how do you deal with anxiety?

[Gina]

I haven't had that many issues with anxiety lately over the past couple yeard however within the past 4 months my anxiety has been getting worse and worse
It started when my implant started fucking up so I've had to go on different pills mixed alongside the implant then stopping and starting and trying new pills, then I just got the implant out and I'm getting the coil in on Tuesday
I didn't realise how much it'd affect me but I can feel myself getting more and more anxious about the smallest of things and its getting to a point where I just don't know how to deal with it anymore
I've gotten myself into a habit of just trying to tell myself that I'm overthinking things or theres nothing to worry about, but rather than dealing with it I just try and cover my mind with other things so it's still there sitting at the back of my mind
When I'm having a panic attack or can feel that I'm starting to panic I just have no idea what to do anymore lol
My way of coping has just been scratching my arm when I panic but now it's fucked my skin on my arm where I've scratched it so hard

So I was wondering what do you guys do when you feel yourself getting panicked, how do you cope? When you feel anxious about situations, how do you put your mind at ease? When you can't help but overthink ridiculous things, what helps you realise they're just thoughts and nothing more?

[Empired]

My anxiety peaks in the middle of the night always so I'd advise step 1 to be not posting on habboxforum at 3:50am ;) But in all seriousness, I used to suffer from anxiety really badly and it's something that I still struggle with now but I have learned how to manage it much more effectively.

You say you scratch at your arm. I used to pull my hair (and occasionally eyebrows but mostly just my hair) out and pull them apart until there was nothing left, then go back and pull some more out. It was a nervous tick thing that I found I really couldn't get rid of, but instead of just trying to force myself to stop I tried to pick up the habit of just running my hand through my hair rather than actually pulling it out. Idk if that would help for you but getting rid of habits like scratching is really hard, whereas replacing them with a different habit is much easier to deal with.

For dealing with the actual anxious thoughts themselves, I'm lucky enough to be in a position now where I can tell the difference between the irrational, anxious part of my brain speaking and the real part of my brain. I've never managed to get rid of the thoughts but I do listen to them much less now that I know that it's just because I'm having a particularly bad anxious day. It's still horrible to hear every anxious thought my brain has, but it helps to know there are worse days and better days. And I go out of my way to try and make sure I really appreciate the good days (which sometimes stretch to weeks/months!) because I think that often gets overlooked.

If you can, it might be worth trying to tackle your thoughts by logically questioning them? So whenever you have a bad thought that you can feel is making you panicked, question it. So like a generic example being "everyone here hates me", tackle it and ask yourself why you're saying everyone hates you, and keep questioning it. Even if it doesn't help, it might help get you in the practice of picking up on specific triggers and working out your worst points.

I don't wanna sit here and lecture you so I'll stop with those suggestions maybe? But always more than happy to chat if you have anything else you wanna say gina. I don't know exactly what you're going through cause everyones brains are different i guess but I do know what it's like to be stuck in terrible anxiety patches so I do feel for you :( and remember we all love you and want you live your best life! forever Habbox's own baby x

[Gina]

Empired; thank u for lovely reply and lool yes it was particularly bad that night which is why i posted, otherwise im usually asleep earlyish to stop me getting a chance to be over anxious and overthinking all night and wow thats good you replaced it with something lol maybe ill just try not to be so harsh on my arm or at least start cutting my nails so it doesnt do much
honestly i feel that lol some days are the worst days and some are pretty basic days where i hardly think anything but the worst days can get so bad and i end up just not knowing how to cope
im gonna get a hobby to do after work so im not sat overthinking and waiting around for time to pass so hopefully thatll help too
thank you again for your lovely reply though it really helped reading it and its really reassuring when its like im not entirely crazy and other people struggle just the same as i do, ill keep trying to question it all
honestly i wouldnt even mind having a lecture lol it really helps thank you muchly and same goes to u if u ever need a chat i still use fb !!
unrelated but u look soo good on facebook and seem so much happier on it in general ,if thats the case n u are then im so happy for you xxx

[Zak]

The way I deal with my anxiety is to push myself out of my comfort zone as often as possible. It's almost never as bad as you imagine it to be and it helps with confidence in the long-term, thus reducing anxiety a second, third or fourth time around.

[Stephen]

exposure doesnt work shit for me

handful of benzos turns the wall into a fence

[Joe]

My anxiety peaked during the rough breakup with my ex over a year ago now. I was what felt like an absolute wreck. My anxiety manifested itself in panic attacks, almost heartache and complete irratiability. I used Kalms during that period and I wasn't sure if it was placebo effect or not but something worked. Maybe also time healed.

Now, whenever I get anxious and my heart starts going and I get irritable again, I just get up, pace around a little and try and gain control of my breathing. I'm nothing like I used to be and barely get it, it's just little things that I let me head snowball into big things. Thankfully, no teaching anxiety yet. But oh boy it's coming!

Love u gina x

[Sian]

medication, therapy and avoiding anything that makes me anxious?

But honestly I've only just started being able to cope with it, but my anxiety is completely centred around the warped way I see myself and how I honestly believe other people see me. So I've had to drag up, analyse and discuss every horrible thing that has happened to me before I could start to feel safe in the world.