Does your anxiety cause anxiety? And that causes more anxiety? Which in turn causes more anxiety about the growing anxiety about the anxiety? Then suddenly your mind is racing and down the rabbit hole you go. You start feeling restless, your chest tightens, and even those deep breathing exercises that everyone tells you to do makes you feel like you can’t breathe. You can’t fall asleep or you wake up in the middle of the night only to toss and turn, wrestling with your racing thoughts, and since you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, your anxiety is even more heightened throughout the next day making life miserable. On and on this cycle goes.
Anxiety is a b*tch. Anxiety about anxiety is an even bigger b*tch because it makes you think that you can’t handle your anxiety which makes it feel even more scary and hopeless. The worst part is how out of control you feel. It can be so overwhelming.
Maybe you’ve read all the self-help books and listened to all the TED talks and tried all the guided meditations, and it hasn’t really helped. Maybe you’ve even been to therapy before and the thought record worksheet, mood log, and coping skills list were just thrown onto a huge pile of mail. And yet here you are, reading this, admist the feelings of hopelessness. Let me tell you this: there is help! You can overcome anxiety!