hi everyone!

I've decided I'm going to post blogs with things that've helped me through it all. I've been dealing with this since age 5, and 15 years of experience has left me with some insight. So here's the first 'tips' post. Expect many, many more as I have time to write them.

-When you're having a panic attack, keep in mind that it always goes away. There has never, and will never, be a time when a panic attack lasts. It might take a while to go away, but it always DOES go away. Panic can go up and up, but it always comes down again.

-Anxiety can be measured as a hill or a slope. The top of the hill is the worst point of a panic attack, and the bottom is your baseline, or normal, everyday self. The earlier you can detect your anxiety rising (the lower the point on the slope), the easier it is to talk yourself down.

-Catch the 'what if' thoughts as they are happening. You'll notice that these pop up a LOT during a panic attack, and ultimately, they tend to be the SOURCE of a panic attack. Rational versus irrational thinking is a very, very, very important tool to be aware of. When you're having a panic attack and you find these thoughts occuring, start to think about your thinking. Be totally aware of what you're thinking, and be rational with yourself. For example, the classic line seems to be "what if I die". Well, obviously, you're not going to, so scratch that thought as soon as you come to it. For other thoughts, it's a lesser worst case scenerio, like "what if I have to leave the room?" In this case, just think, so what? you leave the room and come back. Story over. Keeping it simple and ordering your irrational thoughts has been the main tool that I've used to get through some of the worst times in my life, and I think it's important that everyone else with an anxiety problem should know it.

Okay, that's all I have time for right now, but I have so much more to share with you all. I hope that these posts will help someone out there.

Take care til next time 🙂