YOU put what YOU want in your Mind of Requirement: tips on dealing with an anxiety attack
They come when you least expect them. That's the kind of thing your mum tells you when you have a bit of a dried up love life and decide (and never again) to confide in your mother about it. But in this case, it's actually anxiety that comes when you least expect it, although love life troubles can often be a part of it.
Sometimes it's nothing more than a gasp of uncertainty, a flicker of a shadow of doubt somewhere in that Room of Requirement that is your jumbled mind. But other times it knocks you, your whole world crumbles around you, your mind won't stop whirring and the world is spinning and there is no one, no one to talk to. And it keeps. Going. On.
There's very little you can do. Or at least. That's how it wants you to feel. It wants you to feel helpless and alone. It feeds on that. So the best thing you can do is to DO. And the best thing you can be is to BE. And all you can do is try and grasp onto little things, little straws that you can pluck and just remember why. Just remember why you wake up everyday and put on your socks and flick the switch on the kettle. All you can do is try. I'm definitely not an expert in these matters. All I can say is that these are things that have helped me and just remember you're bloody amazing.
1. Tea.
The hardest part is sometimes waking up in the morning. Everything hits. You're paralyzed and petrified in bed and there's nothing you can do. Except there is. You know what I do? I make a cuppa.
All I think about is the kitchen. My favourite mug. I take little steps at a time. Sometimes that is all you need. It may sound trivial and silly and insignificant but if there is anything you can do to help you get out of bed in the morning then do it. Buy an electric heater so your room is bloody boiling and lovely when you wake up. Cover the wall opposite your bed in pictures of you being happy and having amazing times with your friends. Set your alarm tone as Bohemian Rhapsody. Do anything that will make you smile before anything else.
2. Put on your favourite 90s hit and go all Lizzie McGuire around your bedroom.
Music can have such an impact on your mood. Put the Damien Rice CDs and Welcome to the Black Parade albums away and say hello to Spotifys Disney playlist.
One of the best things you can do is sing and dance along to a great upbeat song. It can be anything. You can do anything. Just go for it. I mean, if there's someone in the room you may want to ask them to leave, probably more for their sake than yours (I'm kidding). But just letting all of your inhibitions go and doing something completely ridiculous is the key to getting your mood up and helping you feel better when you feel like you can't.
3. Don't be alone
If you feel like you're going to burst with fear and you're on your own, go to see someone. And I don't necessarily mean someone who is a medical professional - though if you ever feel so down that there's no way out it's important that you do seek medical help. Go to a friend's. Go outside. Call someone. Call a helpline. Just talk to someone.
Anytime I have felt at my lowest point I have always turned to one of my amazing family members and friends and they will never turn you away. No matter what you're feeling or being convinced of in your head, those around you care and want to know how you feel. You are not alone. But not in a creepy horror / sci-fi alien way FYI.
4. Write it out.
This is when being an extremely loud touch typist is so satisfying. You can bash out all of your frustration onto a word document and feel the anger and the upset and the hurt all just come out. Just write it out. Keep writing until you're all out of words and dried up like an empty faucet. You don't even have to look back on what you've written. But sometimes it helps to see something concrete, to step away from it and gain a different perspective.
5. Play a game.
A computer game. A mobile game. A board game. Whatever will distract you from your whirring thoughts. Sometimes just doing something that requires you to think and do settles your thought cycle back down into something a little more digestible. It's also not avoiding the issue but postponing it, to deal with later when you can manage it / have someone to talk to about it.
6. Read a book, a poem, a passage, a short story.
I mean, are you surprised? I am the biggest book nerd of all time. But this does help. The key is escaping your own head for a little while.
7. I will go all Remus Lupin on you and say chocolate helps.
Endorphins and all that.
8. Going out and buying yourself something nice also helps too.
But make sure you budget first. Don't go getting yourself more anxiety by spending more than you can.
9. Plan things to look forward to.
Make sure you always have something in your day / week / month that you are looking forward to doing. Whether that's doing a particular job at work, relishing your commute because you get to finish that one last chapter or organising a meet up with friends, make sure you have something planned. And, if plans are cancelled or rearranged, find something else to do. Always keep moving. Don't stop. Or hide away. The world deserves to see you.
10. Offer advice to others.
There is nothing better than helping someone who has been through something as bad as you and seeing / helping them get through it. What we forget sometimes is that we need to apply our own advice to ourselves. If you ever feel down, write a list of things you would tell someone to help them feel better. At the end of the day, you are in control of what goes on in your head; you're in control of what you put in your room of Requirement and sometimes you need to listen to your own advice, even from the head you feel like most of the time you cannot trust.
I hope this was of use. Don't be embarrassed of feeling the way you do. Anxiety will make you feel embarrassed. It will tell you things that you don't agree with or mean. It will tell you things that are wrong when they're not. When you have anxiety, the world is a rainy day, but just remember you are the sky and the sunshine and someone's reason to smile.