Anxiety occurs when we are put into uncomfortable situations. It can happen when we have deadlines to meet or we are threatened by someone.. Our body is equipped to handle anxiety and it actually gives you that burst of energy to get through a situation. However for some people the body gets stuck in the anxiety mode and these people have what is known as an anxiety disorder. It is an illness that can be treated.
Finding a health care professional that understands that the mind is part of our body and that our thoughts can get scrambled and the brain chemistry sometimes get out of balance is of most importance. Unfortunately there is still get stigma about mental disorders for most of the population and it can keep people from seeking help. Understanding that the mind is a part of our body and just as important as any any other organ will open the door to treatment. Educating people on getting a healthy mind is as important as educating them about any other part of our body. It is not about shaming people when they are having cognitive issues. We don't shame people for cancer or heart disease, or other illnesses. I want people to feel comfortable asking for help when they need it. Sometimes we need to let health care professionals know that someone we love is not thinking healthy or confused or suffering from short term memory loss. People with cognitive issues do not always realize that their thinking is obscured. It is up utmost importance to not be shamed for helping them.
We unfortunately are still living in a society that that brushes mental problems under the carpet. It can be the result of stress or medications that are used to treat other illnesses. It can be from situations that are traumatizing or from taking high doses of prednisone. I have learned that prednisone when given in doses of greater than 50mg and stopped abruptly can induce what is known as steroid psychosis. It can last up to several years in some patients especially if they hare experiencing a traumatic event in their life. It is of up most importance to be able to discuss these issues with your doctor without being shamed or dismissed. Mental issues affect the quality of life. We need to let patients know it is alright to get help and it is not shameful. We can put cancer into remission and we can treat heart disease, but without a healthy mind the quality of life has been stripped from us.
I just watched a video presented by Olivia Remes. (google her name to learn more about her and see her video). It was very enlightening as I was already practicing some of the things she suggested and I learned some new tips from her. Educating myself about my anxiety and learning to take control of it has been very beneficial. Rewiring the mind to think positively and forgive myself for not being perfect has been very freeing for me. I am not a fan of slapping a band aid on problems by popping a pill to take away the anxiety. Underneath the medicine there is till a person with anxiety. Understanding where the anxiety is coming from and confronting it has helped me. Some people may need to take medication along with cognitive behavior therapy and should follow the advice of their doctor.
I have been an anxious person most of my life. I have always felt as if my central nervous system is over stimulated. I have suffered since a child with restless leg syndrome and palpitations of the heart. My family calls me a compulsive worrier. However when I am engaged in an activity that I am very confident with, I am very relaxed.
I have discovered some things that caused my anxiety to be worse. My overbearing mother who suffered from her own anxiety caused a lot of anxiety in my world. She could not accept anything other than perfection. She lived with OCPD (Obsessive compulsive personality disorder) and could not accept her own family to be anything but perfect. It was a perfection that controlled everything we did including the way we looked. She was trapped by her own personality disorder. The stigma of people not accepting that mental problems are an illness just as heart disease, cancer, and etc. has kept a lot of people from seeking help. I hope we can keep educating people to seek help and stop judging them for their mental illness.
I now understand why she could not accept me for who I was. I was unique and I did not see the world through her eyes. I realize now that it is alright to be imperfect. In the last four years I have proven to myself that I will be alright without being perfect.
We can rewire our brains to think differently with the right guidance. It does not happen overnight but life can be less stressful if you accept that is alright to fail. I liked that Olivia Remes talked about doing things badly rather than worrying and not doing anything. Those of us who have anxiety disorders let the over thinking and worry prevent us from living. People with anxiety will procrastinate about things until they are convinced that what ever they do will not be right or something will happen to them. My mind sometimes won't let go of the anxiety, because I am my worst critic. I do not have OCPD, however I am an anxious person from trying to live up to the expectations of my mother. Even after she passed away I had trouble changing my mind set of feeling like a failure. It is a feeling of being worthless.
Some of my friends have been shocked to hear me talk about this, because I have come across to them as a very patient person and very happy. We develop coping mechanisms to cover up our inner pain. That is why we hear people say I don't understand why so and so had a break down or took their own life. That is why I have to talk about the anxiety and what ever is bothering me. It is a way to let it go so it does not paralyze me.
I have been much happier now that I allow myself to do things that seemed very uncomfortably to me. One of the things was leaving the house without wearing makeup and dressed in sweats. My mother would have been mortified that I disgraced the family. On Tuesday and Thursday you may not recognize me as I leave for Zumba class, and yet I am still the fun loving person that is full of energy. And what I discovered was that people love me for who I am not what I look like. I wish my mother could have felt the freedom of not being perfect.
Things happen for a reason in life. Perhaps all the stress and trauma helped me confront my worst fears and learn that I was worthy of help that I needed. Having a purpose shifts our anxious thoughts and it does help relieve our anxiety. God sometimes puts us in traumatic situations that will push us to beg for help. We should never feel that we have to beg for help to treat a mental illness. We need to talk openly to help others know that there is no shame in treating our minds.
Life is beautiful !!
Elizabeth:)
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