I have felt anxiety related to health, related to job security, related to safety, financial future of country, etc. I experienced panic attacks mostly related to safety.

It can feel like a crushing feeling, it can cause you to think (and maybe even believe) catastrophic thoughts. Like ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘what if there is a home invasion’ or ‘can you trust your thoughts?’ Or ‘when will the next panic attack come?’ Or ‘will I be able to resume things I once took a hiatus from?’

The things which lead me into more anxiety are buying into thought narratives or spins that tell me that I am withdrawing from activities. Sometimes it can be increased when I resist the feelings, as I seek to overcome any fear but succumb to those thoughts. Basically, avoiding things and listening to fear and obeying it lead me into it more and more.

The things that reduce it for me, sometimes significantly, is PLEASE (treating Physical illness,  Exercising, avoiding mood altering substances like alcohol, eating nutritious food) and the ABC skills, like accumulating positive experiences/playful activities/memories, mastering things (learning piano, learning a a language slowly, etc), and coping strategies (for where you see anxiety pop up listen with a potential coping strategy, if going to an expo you worry if you will have a panic attack, even supposing one have a plan if it did happen what you could do.) Connecting with loved ones, they can bring you food or play with you if needed, basically even the most simple social activities really can breathe life and confidence building…having music you can listen to or ASMR when you feel anxiety. Asmr videos focusing on safety in particular. Not watching the mainstream news. Drawing. Tidying up categories such as books, games, etc and discarding things which don’t bring you joy…

I think when you feel safe, it goes a long way. Be kind to your self and try not to terrify yourself with actions. Fight or flight sometimes we want to go to the ER or do this now or whatever, but if you express that in diary or to someone you can notice it may be overreacting and then reconsider it. This is where you may laugh it off and be OK to train your emotional brain to be less false alarms.

Your amygdala wants to protect you. It wants to keep you safe and alive. It is Primal. But sometimes it can give false signals. So like a machine learning, sometimes we need to notice and observe mindfully and just move forward. There have been times it has worked for real, such as near car accidents or what not. So it does have a critical function.

Love you all, let’s all grow to have less false alarms and live life more in truth