So how has the last few days been for you? Today let’s look back and take in the positives not only from the first 3 challenges you were given, but from any of the valuable knowledge and tools on The Anxious Athlete Facebook page that has helped you with your fears, panic attacks, chronic anxiety or any kind of mental health issue. It’s important to celebrate the smallest successes, so that you gain momentum towards the direction you want to go.
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For years, I never took the time to think about this question. Sometimes acting out that light at the end of the tunnel can put you in the correct mindset and guide you to freedom.
The End The Anxiety program website is currently down due to reconstruction but get ready because our proven methods through our program, has just gotten better. If you are looking for support or guidance from someone who’s been in your shoes and has come out on the other side, Like The Anxious Athlete page on Facebook for all the latest updates
Have you ever had a feeling that you weren’t sure that what you were looking at was real or not? Depersonalisation can be described as a recurring feeling of detachment from one’s own body, as if being in a dream-like state and not really ever in touch with reality. For many years, this was my continuous state, and at times it would be quite scary. My daily life was turned into confusion at every corner and this very troubling symptom of anxiety had me very worried. To get a good idea of what this felt like and the unsteadiness that accompanied it, you can shake your head side to side 20 times while not sleeping for 2 days straight and that should give you an idea of what I felt 24 hours a day.
This is very common and many people with anxiety disorders suffer from it. My thoughts completely slowed down, my response to a simple question felt extremely challenging and the worst part of all this would be trying to explain the feeling to someone else who’s never heard of depersonalisation or felt anything quite like it. I felt like I was at a disadvantage in every single tennis match I played, and I was curious to know what it felt like to see everything as “normal” again. I wanted to rid myself of this nightmare so much that I in fact added more stress to the situation which helped to maintain these awful experiences. I started doing some research on what this was because my doctors didn’t have a clue (shocking…), and the emergency room was getting tired of putting me through tests to my head. I realized that my nervous system wasn’t able to process all the stress I was putting myself under all at once, and I finally realized that the feeling of unreality I was experiencing was my nervous system forcing me to relax and forcing me to slow things down.
This hazy view and unsteadiness was caused by a mental shift in the part of my brain linked to the amygdala which is in fact the main organ responsible for anxiety. Learning about depersonalisation helped me understand what the heck was going on with me instead of just playing the victim and feeling sorry for myself, but it took me some time longer until I was completely over this dreaded symptom of anxiety.
So if you experience depersonalziation i’d love to hear your own stories on how it has affected your life, and what you are doing about it today. Comment below and i’ll catch up with you real soon (:
Only a week and a half away from releasing the 21 videos of the most asked questions (and answers) I get about anxiety, and more specifically anxiety disorders.
In one of my videos on Youtube I presented the 6 powerful steps to stopping Generalized Anxiety Disorder. One of the steps was to become knowledgeable about your anxiety condition so that you could get a deeper understanding of how your mind, and body worked through panic and anxiety. These short 1 to 3 minute videos will make you an anxiety expert, and with it give you a deeper understanding of what you need to do to stop your anxiety disorder naturally.
Like The Anxious Athlete Facebook page for updates on the exact release time for these free videos.
Trust me, dating wasn’t a common thing for me during my GAD and Panic Disorder. Even though on the outside I looked somewhat confident and dressed the part, on the inside I was simply…a mess.
So, I’m going on this blind date that my tennis clients put together for me, and after trying to think of an excuse to get out of it for hours, I found myself on my way to the restaurant to meet my date. Things started really well because usually just in the first few minutes of meeting someone I am very upbeat and energetic which she must have interpreted as being fun and outgoing.
We sat down and I could feel the blood rushing to my face in nervousness but since I had practiced hiding my true feelings for so long, I was holding it together pretty well and was able to keep the conversation going. The problem was it was dinner time, where I always felt pressured to have a drink, and therefore only a matter of time before my physical sensations of anxiety like shortness of breath and extreme dizziness would kick in, and I needed to decide between three choices that I had at the moment this happened:
Choice #1 was suck it up, have some alcoholic drinks that would trigger unbearable anxiety for the next few days and probably send me to the emergency room again.
Choice #2 was hang in there, take a few bathroom breaks to throw some water on my blushing face and start over.
Choice #3 was fake an emergency that I had to attend to right then and there and leave the restaurant.
What Choice Would You Have Made?
I think the most positive choice would be #2 because it would lead to a potential relationship or friendship that could last forever without the embarrassment of seeing me drunk (not a good scene because I get overly energetic and friendly followed by going to sleep in the nearest comfy place I could find).
The only thing I could blame going to the washroom that many times on would be all of the water I drank earlier that day at the gym (the gym part would also be a plus because it would be something she would be looking for in a guy, as she was extremely fit). I chose choice #1 because what alcohol does to someone who suffers from high levels of anxiety is it gives them temporary relief from all physical sensations (or at least we stop paying attention to them as much), and it replaces any negative and unproductive thoughts with happy and fearless ones. For the 40 or so minutes just after dinner we had a blast and I was unstoppable and drunk after just four beers.
I was the person I wanted to be every minute of every day, outgoing, confident, and fearless, superman had NOTHING on me during my mini vacation from anxiety! Thank you alcohol! Who would have thought that this scared little mouse could turn into a raging lion so quickly?
The problem was, a few hours later we were lounging on the sofas near the restaurant at another bar and my invincibility was starting to wear off. I was getting tired and sleepy. I was starting to realize that the next couple of days were going to be the most difficult days I could imagine, which led to the usual cycle of worry and fear which turned into physical sensations followed by confusion and more fear. See how the cycle just goes and goes? Even the anticipation of panic causes panic!
The conversation was now at a snail’s pace, and I could tell I was really starting to rub her the wrong way. The night that had started out so great with a nice meal and good conversation had turned into a complete train wreck in only a matter of hours. We said our goodbyes and I ended up having to go and sleep in the back seat of my car. Another valuable lesson was learned that night, don’t drink alcohol if you suffer from panic disorder because the temporary relief doesn’t compare to the following day or days for more severe cases like mine.
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