First, take a deeeeep breath.

I was in your situation just 3 months ago, and I’m still getting back on track to a new happier, healthier minded me. Reading posts on this site honestly has helped me tremensouly. Also doing yoga for me helps, so I would suggest yoga or google guided meditation. Above all, cut yourself some slack. We can be so hard on ourselves and it’s easy to forget to simply take care of ourselves. I know it seems hard and hopeless, but it really isn’t. I fully believe that you can lessen anxiety to the point where you forget about it entirely. One thing I encourage you to look into is EFT, or emotional freedom techniques. Gala Darling explains it very well in my opinion. And just know that you aren’t alone. I’m 19 and in a very tough college program, and I totally understand what you are going through. Figure out for you what initially triggers the anxiety, and don’t fight it. Acknowledge it, let it sit for a second and try to listen to it. And then try to let it go. I think what helped me most is when I stopped fighting with myself, recognized I was anxious, and either talked to a support system or did something I enjoy like catch up on my TV shows or shower. Also, 7 Cups of Tea is a great source if you need to talk to someone. I hope you find peace with this.

-Cortney

Hey Becky,
I too have and still do battle with anxiety, depression, and sometimes just total self destruction. I am also an older guy(53), I’m opening this way not to discourage you but to also let you know your not alone! Here goes: first of all try holding your breath til you pass out or die, Failed didn’t you! now try laughing to death, failed didn’t you! This is something I learned in therapy, people like us tend to embellish our realities as if no one else has these problems or signs. yeah signs! that’s what most of these feelings are signs of what we need to investigate inside our selves with kindness and understanding, that this is a life long journey. As with any journey its easier embarked upon with a plan. First try laughing and holding your breath til you die as I mentioned earlier; once you’ve realized that these are unnecessary worries try some others .Your going to find out that your feeling and living your thoughts. As we both know we are not our thoughts, we are not our feelings. So for now the plan is to investigate and prove to yourself that some of these fears are not realistic. Secondly a therapist can be a great help? I went through maybe a dozen therapists before I found the right one. It’s not “one stop shopping”, if its not a good fit keep looking. We want help so much sometimes we will settle for anyone who is willing to listen I don’t know if this is your case but you need to know your in control! You came here no one forced you! Your in control! There I said it twice “CONTROL” this is what we want and this is usually what’s holding us back from peace of mind. We don’t need control we need to be grounded and once we’re grounded we can investigate our demons rationally. I could go on and on but it wont help you anymore at this point. So I want to finish by saying “I feel your pain” and there’s a solution: it’s all inside of you I recommend looking into getting grounded before going any further. Great sources are Tiny Buddha, Tich Nat Hanh, and Pema Chodrun. Also mentioned in other posts; just breathe, yoga, meditation (not easy but worth trying and trying again and again) and a willingness to fail and get back up again. I hope to see you on here again. Namaste..