panic attacks

5 ways to deal with travel anxiety

Leave a comment

It’s no secret that I am a keen traveller and I love my holidays but I still get anxious when I travel. Something about moving without control makes me feel unsettled. The no control aspect is probably the reason why I get anxious, I often wonder if it was me driving would I feel any better. Anyway, I’m drifting away from the point now. Here’s my rundown on how to deal with anxiety whilst travelling.

Obviously these are going to depend on what mode of transport you’re using and there are other variables like whether it’s public or private transport and who you’re going with.

1. Find your optimum place/seat.

This can take practise on finding out what you do and don’t like but once you know all of this you can make yourself feel so much more comfortable. For me I prefer a window seat so I can see what’s going on and I’m not completely clueless as to where I am. I think it helps with the control thing. I also find being seated is a GREAT thing as I can calm down so much easier

2. Try and sit/stand with people you know. 

Being with people I trust, know and like instantly makes me feel calmer, more relaxed and talking is a great distraction

3. Bring a phone and other distractions.

I always have ,and hopefully always will ,travel with people I know and like but I know that some people this isn’t always possible and I’m sure there will be a day that I will have to face travelling alone.

So utilise your phone as much as you can. Call, Facetime, oovoo someone. Use it as a time to catch it up with old friends and most places now have wifi available.

Phones also have a wide range of apps that don’t require wifi that you can pre download to keep you entertained and more importantly distracting you. You can also buy tv shows and films on tablets and phones. Or you can be traditional and bring a book.

4. Bring comfy things.

This will be more appropriate for long haul flights or long boat rides compared to the London underground but none the less it’s still a tip. Blankets, over sized T-shirts etc will all make your surroundings feel a bit more normal and you might even be so comfy that you’ll fall asleep.

5. Make it fun.

Think of it as an excuse not to do anything but relax. On a plane you can use face masks to help you relax and help your complexion at the same time. You could even buy something that you have wanted for ages like a book or a blanket. Just find something to spice up the journey a little more.

I hope you guys liked this post if you did remember to give it a big like, if you haven’t already remember to hit the follow button so you never miss a post and I will speak to you guys soon.

Thanks for reading, Worry Warriors,

Win The Worry Wars.

 

 

Why waste another day worrying?

Leave a comment

Feeling fed up can often drive us to acheive. This couldn’t be more true than with anxiety. When you just feel fed up of feeling rubbish and being worried about everything isn’t that just a reason to push on and beat it.

When I get fed up this is often the time that I look forward and try and smack it down.

Time is precious we don’t know how much time we have and when we spend lots of time worrying we need to put it into perspective and think:

  1. What is worrying going to acheive? Pretty much 100% of the time it does absolutely nothing for us except make everything worse.
  2. Is this helpful? No we are just feeling worse becasue we are getting ourselves so worked out over something that will probably be fine in the end.
  3. Do I really want to spend my whole life worrying about what might happen? NO
  4. Wouldn’t it be better to push myself and feel really anxious for a few minutes to then acheive something amazing and feel really good? Yaaazz.

At the end of the day do we want to spend all our time worrying? I know that this is so much easier said than done but if we can try and push through this horrible wall won’t it all be worth it? To have a life where we don’t have to spend a lot of time worrying about everything.

I hope you enjoyed this little post if you did remember to give it a big thumbs up and follow this blog to become a worry warrior and I will speak to you guys very soon.

Thanks for reading, Worry Warriors,

Win The Worry Wars.

Think rationally

Leave a comment

One of the most annoying things when you are panicking is someone going ‘For goodness sake that’s not going to happen just think rationally!’. It’s annoying but annoying true. We build things in our heads up into a massive storm when really it’s beautifully sunny outside. Because I have had anxiety for a few years now I have been developing thoughts, techniques and strategies to really kick my anxiety in the butt. Now that I am doing a lot more of it for myself I have found that rational thinking really helps me to order my thoughts and fight the negative, made-up thoughts that I have been believing with the plain and simple, black and white, hard facts.

The other day I was getting really worried that I had’t eaten enough fruit and got enough vitamins even though I had. When I look back now I think ugh come on why there you really that worried? But at the time that was a big deal for me. I conquered it by using the plain hard facts and listing them in my head. Sometimes I’ll actually write them down so that I can physically see it written in front of me. Kind of like a pros and cons list but fact and fiction.

Fact:

  • I had eaten 3 pieces of fruit that day ( still a bit low but enough to survive )
  • I had eaten other things that were high in nutrients.
  • Other people don’t even eat 1 piece a day.

Fiction:

  • I’m going to faint beach of it.
  • I’m going to be unwell because of it.
  • I have eaten no where near enough fruit.
  • I have eaten no fruit.

You can see how easily the mind can trick you and how if we believe the fiction then we will inevitably panic and get worried. If we separate the fact from the fiction then we can see that actually ALL of that worry was made up and based upon nothing.

I hope this helped if it did remember to give it a like. Next time you are worrying try and think rationally – it will seriously help you order and sort through your thoughts.

Thanks for reading, Worry Warriors,

Win The Worry Wars.

 

Acheive in steps

Leave a comment

With anxiety it’s very easy to see each hurdle as a massive elephant sat in the middle of the road. To get past the elephant first we have to drive to it, get out of the car, say hello, get to know it and then finally it will move and we can pass. When we see it as a huge obstacle what we want to do instead is drive around it and that’s trespassing. Ok I got a bit carried away with the elephant analogy but what I’m saying is that if we break it down into steps then we see it as more manageable and therefore we don’t trespass (avoid it).

Let’s take a real life situation and break it down because I doubt that any of you are going to see an elephant sat in the middle of a road and even if you do I bet asking it to move won’t really work.

 

Example:

Worry: I’m really worried about going into science 5th lesson.

Breaking it down: 

  1. Go into school,
  2. Go to all your other lessons that you aren’t worried about,
  3. Maybe go and talk to someone about your worries,
  4. Walk to the door,
  5. Go through the door, (notice how you really have to pick out every single detail)
  6. Walk to your desk,
  7. Sit down,
  8. Open your book,
  9. Get through 10 seconds,
  10. Get through 1 minuet,
  11. Keep breaking it down into minuets and before you know it the lesson will be over.

If we look at it broken down how much more manageable does it seem? Hopefully a lot.By taking any kind of situation 1 minuet at a time we can quickly realise how quickly and by how much our anxiety it going down.

I really hope you enjoyed this post if you did remember to give it a big like and try and practise this even when you don’t feel anxious so you can get into a bit of routine and then it will feel more natural when you are panicking.

Thanks for reading, Worry Warriors,

Win The Worry Wars.

 

The harder the more rewarding

Leave a comment

So I think it’s a well known fact that the harder something is to achieve the more rewarding it is once it’s achieved. I think this is true with anxiety especially when you have a really bad experience and you are able to smash through it. It’s so much more rewarding and satisfying . I also feel that the more work you put in the bigger the reward. Continue reading →

The town experience

Leave a comment

I talked about this a while ago on THIS POST. Basically one day I went into town with my friends and this was an especially good day to blog about because I used A LOT of techniques to calm myself down.

Continue reading →

Bad days

3 Comments

So last week on Wednesday I had a really bad day. I had a horrible lesson and it really got me down. Continue reading →

You still get those moments.

Leave a comment

So on Tuesday after school I had a bit of a mare.

I had several panic attacks about stuff I hadn’t worried about for ages but  I managed to deal with them and it all turned out ok.

So the first thing that happened was something that bothered me so much I just had to do it. As you may or may not know I’m worried about having allergic reactions to things so peanuts has always been a big goal because they are something that is a common allergen. Sometimes I get to a point when I get so annoyed I just have to do something and this was one of those circumstances. There was a packet of peanuts on the kitchen side and I had been avoiding them like ild fire for a few days but in the end I got so annoyed I just went for it. I knew that I wasn’t allergic but I still couldn’t get the thought out of my head I ate one and sat there waiting. I guess I was waiting for an allergic reaction to the peanuts but yo know what? It never came. I knew it wouldn’t but at the same time my anxiety still gave me that seed of doubt.

I also used a new shampoo the other day and pretty much the same thing happened I was waiting for the reaction and this time I also go the symptoms but nothing actually happened. A few months ago I would have had to go and talk to someone but not now and I’m pleased with that.

So that’s pretty much all I have to say today but if you do take a bit of a step back don’t worry because that happens to all of us! I really hope you enjoyed this if you did remember to give it a thumbs up and follow this blog for more anxiety battling tips and I will see you guys next week.

Thanks for reading, worry warriors,

Win The Worry Wars

It’s OK not to be ready

Leave a comment

Sometimes you do have to say no because you aren’t ready….

I have talked about this topic before but I want to talk about something particular today.

So in the Easter Holidays which feels like ages ago and I wish I was still enjoying doing what I want when I want, playing in the garden (coughs) I’m getting off topic here. Anyway, this Easter I really wanted to dip-dye/ombre my hair. I did it but I faced challenges.

  1. I knew I didn’t want it permanent as I had school in a while
  2. I was scared of allergic reactions
  3. I knew my parents weren’t allergic but it still scared me
  4. I always remember watching ‘Watchdog (a british programme)’ and them taking about the severe reactions
  5. I did have other options

In the end I was too scared to buy the temporary hair dye. I still wasn’t giving up though so I bought hair chalk in the end. I must say I have been enjoying the pinky-purple tips (lol).

The message here is a couple of things:

  1. There is a way around things
  2. You don’t have to jump in the deep end
  3. It’s not avoidance
  4. It’s still progress
  5. I suit pinky-purple ombre (off topic again…)

Thanks very much for reading and make sure you are following and are a Worry Warrior because that would be EPIC. Also maybe drop a cheeky like and a five star rating and I will see you soon 🙂

Thanks for reading Worry Warriors,

Win The Worry Wars

 

Overcoming anxiety is like a bikeride

1 Comment

Hi guys so I was going to put up the rest of my Disney trip but my Mum has the other laptop so I’ll put it up asap.

Overcoming anxiety is like a bike ride.

Yeah it is. It’s hard to learn how to control it.

Your younger and you get the bike (the anxiety) .

It takes you a while to figure out how high you need the seat and how to use the bell. (figuring out what your scared of).

You need stabilizers to start off with. (all the people giving you support most of the time)

You are wobbly (you learn the first couple of techniques)

You fall off (this is to represent all the days that you feel like giving up)

You get back up ( your determination reappears)

You can go short distances (you can do it most of the time)

Then…

Your riding miles and miles not even realising how far you have come and that is the last stage, the stage we all will reach if you just believe. I believe in you and you will get there. I bet you don’t even know how much stronger you are and how far you have come.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post, I love you guys you will get there I promise please like comment follow and share with your friends.

Goodnight

Thanks for reading

Win The Worry Wars