Today my anxiety story is just that today was a bad day. I have catastrophic thoughts about work and they snowball into catastrophic thoughts about my life. CBT helps but sometimes I just need to distract my brain with my phone. But this triggers anxious thoughts about how other people perceive me and how I should be doing more with my life. Tomorrow will be better but today is a bad anxiety day.

It took a long time – most of my 20’s – to accept that I had Generalised and Social anxiety. Not just that I had them even, but that they severely impacted my daily life. I’d found all sorts of coping strategies that helped me to pretend I didn’t have any problems – but sometimes they were too hard to ignore. At 27, I was lucky to move to a new city and make friends with people that spoke openly about their mental health. It was SO empowering to go through the process of learning to accept and embrace my anxiety. Now I try to find healthy ways to manage them and speak as openly as possible about my mental health. So that I can try to help other people in the same way that my friends helped me.

Not a story. Just some things that helped me with GAD. Quitting Coffee. Learning about my anxiety. Being kind to myself. Finding things to be grateful for. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Better sleep hygiene. Journaling.