At 5asideCHESS we believe strongly in the art of conversation as a prevention and cure, short or long term, to poor mental health in all of its capacities.
As part of our Handling Headspace Series, we asked three people to offer their best tips on dealing with Anxiety.
Here is the first by a young women who preferred to stay anonymous.
Words By: Anon
Anxiety to me is all about the illusion of self. Self awareness or rather being self-aware. Am I being weird? Does that woman in Starbucks know I didn’t shower for 4 days? Will today be the day I finally snap and kill myself? I regularly suffer with the spectrum of physicality that anxiety has to offer. Feeling like there’s a pair of invisible hands trying to strangle me with no discernible reason other than just being a human in this world. Life and its intricacies are overwhelming.
But Anxiety in itself is often irrational yet instinctive.
Whatever your anxiety stems from it’s important to remember that the nature of life in itself is impermanent, and you choose which emotions you give credence to. You just gotta ride the wave, and above all be kind to yourself.
It’s not as fucking easy as taking a bath (without dragging the toaster along with you) or going for a walk – do that, though, if you can – but it is about acceptance of what you’re feeling. Like if your mate brought a dickhead to your house party – they’ll fuck off eventually, (probably with the girl you were trying all night to finger.)
On a rudimentary level; I think David Foster Wallace articulated it better than I ever could; “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you, when you realize how seldom they do.”
That’s not to say that your anxiety is obnoxious, perversely it is often at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. You can become a grotesque caricature of yourself at the hands of your own weird collection of synapses and neurons pulling the strings. But it is not the truth. Your anxiety is not in control.
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