Thriving or Surviving

Anxiety was fear, it was worry. Anxiety was physically, mentally and emotionally draining. Anxiety was the avoidance of communication in an attempt to avoid conflict. Anxiety was a lot of ‘what if?’, stressing over things that may or may not ever happen. Waking up after only 3 hours sleep, frantically scribbling down everything that's in your head on a pad only to be racked with anxiety because you're concerned you won't be able to drift off again. Anxiety, questioning your identity, your successes, your weight, your level of intelligence, your lack of wealth, your accomplishes, where your next meal is coming from, why you & your sibling can’t get along.

Anxiety was questioning 'Why always me?' and 'Where did I go wrong in life?'.

It was desperately seeking an outlet hoping that you can get some sort of an answer and stop the thoughts that hurtle through your mind at 100mph.

Anxiety was turning around and finding nobody by your side.

I have experienced some pitfalls and the internet - social media, has been an influence during my highs and my lows. Overall, their influence has been very positive. Positivity – It’s everywhere if you can change your mindset.

What makes you happy? What stresses you out? What are the approaches you can use to ease some of the stresses in your life? I found that I'd grown tired, as well as accustomed to avoiding all conflict. In a perfect world, I would have loved to be able to eliminate anything that brings me stress, but I couldn’t.

I had to learn to try to focus on the positives and what was in my control. I found that through sending time with my thoughts and taking stock of all of the things happening in my life allowed me to come away with a new mindset.

Be your own Superhero

I have learnt that I might not be able to change the world but I do have the opportunity to change my relationship with those around me and find my place in the world one step/challenge at a time.

All this positivity does come with some important reminders that I have learnt along the way:

1. Learning to recognise your feelings.

I found that as I was able to recognise and identify y own feelings and the feelings of others, it created new opportunities. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?” “What do I need?”.

2. Learn to be empathetic.

I’ve learnt to be empathetic towards others. Dealing with your own mental health issues or this around you teaches you empathy and compassion because you realise people can suffer in different ways and without it being obvious.

3. Learn to be grateful.

Gratefulness prepares the way for the breakthrough. It is hard to be negative about your situation when you are thinking about things for which you are grateful. One of the fastest ways to improve your mood or outlook is to count your blessings.

4. Learn to be mindful.

You are going to be tempted to believe and act in negative, hurtful, and dysfunctional ways due to past traumas, experiences or negative things said to you. Take ownership of what’s happening, accept your limitations as well as your flaws.

Writing and sharing

I share my viewpoints and concepts through images, quotes, social media posts and poetry, I'm incredibly grateful for the supportive communities that I get to learn from every day and a fresh perspective frequently gives me a lift if I need it. To me, it is kind of strange to feel that I can give something back as a result of what I have been through.

Even with this new mindset, I still like to remind myself that it’s okay to be a work in progress.