Accepting and Overcoming Anxiety – Anam Ahmed
Anam’s Story - Starting with Denial and Labelling Anxiety as a Weakness
I think the first thing I should do is introduce myself. So here goes. My name is Anam, I’m 24, I am diagnosed with Generalised Panic Disorder.
If someone said to me a year ago that my life would have been flipped upside down (ignore the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reference) by anxiety I would have laughed. The truth is that before going through what I did I always downplayed anxiety. I didn’t understand it and I ultimately didn’t want to. I would always hear people say they had it and all I could think was “get over it”. This is why I agreed with Arifa to write this blog. It makes me feel incredibly vulnerable to share all this with you guys, but if this changes even one person’s perspective of anxiety or if this gives someone the courage to talk I will feel like it was all worth it.
My story of anxiety began with a very dramatic turn. Let’s just say I was disappointed by someone very close to me. It is very important to try to understand your trigger because it is only then you can overcome the problem. I still remember the very first day, it was 04 September 2019
The symptoms can vary from person to person but for Anam, they were as follows:
- Shivering
- Sweating
- Heart burn/chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Numbness my entire body
From Being Hospitalised to Isolated
This all inevitably led to a lack of sleep and lack of eating, this then resulted in me fainting and being hospitalized. It felt like the end of the world for me. I didn’t understand what was happening to me. All I kept thinking is that this is not a “normal” reaction. Surely something was wrong with me. After all the necessary tests, I was told I was fine and I was sent on my way home.
During this time I felt isolated, alone and trapped. Luckily enough I had the support of my close amazing friends who recognised what was happening to me, this is when my journey of recovery began.
The Journey of Recovery
I asked Anam what she did in order to recover and free herself of her own mind and she acknowledged that before feeling better you need to first accept that you aren’t okay and that’s fine. Then you can find solutions and for Anam, this is what helped:
- Talking – I found it really hard to talk to my family and friends about this. But when I shared with them I felt as if a huge burden had been taken off my shoulders. It is so liberating to talk without fear of judgment.
- Meditating and yoga – These activities emphasise the importance of breathing and I now incorporate box-breathing into every day. I use the Calm App which is especially helpful if you struggle to sleep at night.
- Podcasts – I personally recommend Owning it by Caroline Fornan, Happy Place by Fearne Cotton and Under the Skin by Russel Brand.
- Reading – Reading generally is so beneficial and distracting. If the book is a motivational book or an inspirational one then it can even help with your mood. I would personally recommend Calm the f**k down by Sarah Knight, Good Vibes Good Lives by Vex King, Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
- Walking – Going to the gym is recommended by a lot of people, but I’m a very lazy person but I have found that walking clears my mind.
- Exercise – Any form of exercise has a positive impact on your physical and mental wellbeing
- Cut down the caffeine – I used to drink a lot of coffee, but coffee is a stimulant and can make someone with anxiety more jittery and anxious. Having stopped drinking coffees has truly made a difference.
- Fix your sleeping pattern – Sleeping on time is extremely important because it allows your body and mind to relax, sleep early and get your 8-hour sleep. Highly recommend camomile tea if you’re someone that struggles to sleep.
- Seek therapy – I think the first thing to help you recover is to accept your anxiety and to embrace it. I was embarrassed to think that I was suffering from it and it took me a long time to refer myself for CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy). I do feel it is helpful but it takes a lot of courage to accept this form of help. The worksheets and techniques given help manage anxiety on a day to day basis
Emerging Past the Societal Norms and Accepting Anxiety Before Treating It
It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem, yet society still to an extent puts the pressure that we need to be a certain way, we need to exhibit a certain level of strength when we face problems. However, the truth is that having a mental health issue doesn’t make you weak.
I genuinely feel that the only way to defeat the stigma around anxiety or even mental health as a whole is to talk about it, to raise awareness and to provide support to those who suffer from it. Mental health is equally important to physical health and it should receive that recognition. The sooner it is normalised into society, the easier it will be to detach the stigma around it. I feel as if the techniques I’ve provided above should be incorporated into everyone’s lives and everyone should learn to breathe and to take a step back in this increasingly fast-paced world. If you take nothing else out of this article I would just say talk. Talk to your loved ones if you feel overwhelmed, be there for those who you feel are struggling alone. We can only make a change one person at a time, let’s start with ourselves.
Some Last Words
There’s not much to add to what Anam has beautifully said but just to echo what has been said, it’s important to first recognise when things aren’t okay, accept it and then address the problem. Often, when people who are in denial of their mental health, deny it for too long until it affects their health physically.
I would like to thank Anam for being so brave and open but most importantly helping the rest of us. We hope that this post will inspire you and help you in some way.
In such uncertain times where we are all suffering in one way or another due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us will suffer mentally. So please do speak up when you’re suffering. We can get through this together and you are certainly not alone or weak. Here are a few websites we think you could benefit from:
- Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/
- Time to Change: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
- Rethink: https://www.rethink.org/
- Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/
We wish you and your loved ones the best,
See you in the next post,
The Regeneration