How to survive anxiety attack?

Yesterday my friend had an anxiety attack in front of me. I have recognized it straight away because I used to deal with a lot of anxiety a year before and I had no idea how to resist it, block it or survive it.

I saw how her whole posture is changing, lips begin to move faster and eyes are filled with tears… Yoo know what’s happening there, inside of her head? She’s been drowning in fear, emotional chaos and too many thoughts at the same time. I was acting automatically and said to her everything I wish I’ve heard from someone a year ago.

Listen, take a deep breath and look around you, take another one and focus only on the air going in and out, in and out, look how many nice things are here – water, boats, oh look they’ve painted the branches and the smell of it is still noticeable! You’ve got it, you’re with me? Yes! So now think about what’s happening like this – in our heads there are boxes, box for this or that, one for work one for kids, one for sex, one for food etc. Every single moment during the day millions of thoughts appear in our head, triggered by situations and experiences. So this storm of thoughts is bombarding your head and heart and it needs to first be segregated by categorizing it to each box. Why are you crying? You’re afraid, ok, afraid of what? Name it! She told me her biggest fear and I understood it completely as it’s about somebody taking your kids away from you (topic for another big big post). So how we came from simple small thing to this? Because fear is unreasonable and makes things bigger than they are, especially problems! Ok, so you know your enemy. Is there anything you can do to avoid the worst? Yes! That’s good, focus on that. Go home, take a piece of paper and write down every single thing that ypu are afraid of and ask yourself a question – can I do anything about it? Yes – list the steps and start with one at a time. I promise you that every single one that will be accomplished will give you plenty of energy to tale another one towards your real goal. If the answer is no – then why do you spend so much of your energy and time on it. Instead try to accept this situation and maybe there’s another destiny for you.

I do understand that every single person is dealing with different situations and problems. Another friend of mine was waking up with anxiety, couldn’t sleep because of anxiety, was drinking everyday because of anxiety. Remember that there is alway a way out, alcohol, drugs etc are not fixing the problem, it’s like masking the tooth pain with a painkiller without actually fixing the main problem. There is no shame in asking for help. We are living in a very difficult times, especially now durong the pandemic. I put my shame in a pocket once my daughter was born. Ask for help if you need it. You have nothing to loose and plenty to gain. Like what? Like your life ❤