Hi,
Here is the second article in the Paul David series which started yesterday. Just to let those who were wondering know that I am updating other parts of the site, and there will be many new pages soon. Do bear with me while I am making these updates and don’t hesitate to mail if you have any questions: info@anxiety2calm.com. I will put any news on the homepage.
Paul has been helping people with anxiety and panic for many years now, giving people a far better understanding of their condition. You can find more information at www.anxietynomore.co.uk
Many people come to me and say ? I don?t know why I feel like I do or how it started? well I was pretty much in the dark myself as to why I seem to get worse and not better over the years and why had these feelings had come on in the first place. Well in most cases it is because of a period of worry and stress, there are other causes but in most cases this is the reason why. I receive emails from people bewildered to why they suddenly felt like this, I then ask ?Have you been under a period of stress recently?? they reply with, ?Well my mother has been ill recently, my partner left me 6 months ago, my daughter has just left home and I lost my job a couple of months ago, not until I ask them do they realise the stress they have been under for the last few months, all this stress takes its toll on the body.
What I had was a nervous breakdown. This basically occurs because your body can only take so much. When you are going through a prolonged period of stress and worry, your body cannot cope so it sort of shuts down. It has reached breaking point and has said enough is enough. This may lead to feelings of anxiousness, feelings of panic, and the feeling of detachment. It does not matter what the symptoms are, it is your body saying ?I can take no more?. This is where the word breakdown comes in, because that is really all it is. Now all your body is asking for is a rest and time to rejuvenate itself. Do we give it that time? No! Through no fault of our own, we then worry about these symptoms, worry we are going mad and wonder why we feel so tired and emotionless. This puts more worry and strain on our already tired body and we may begin to feel worse. We tell ourselves we must get a grip of this thing, so we fight it and worry even more. Well I think you can now see why these symptoms persist. This is exactly what I did for all those years while I suffered. In fact I was worrying because I had been ill so long and my days were filled with fighting and worry.
One day I just accepted that, OK, this is me now. I actually understand why I feel like this. I need to give my mind and body a rest. I need to stop trying to make myself feel better and stop worrying about how I feel. So I started to just accept it, not only that, but I also accepted it may take a long time for my body to repair itself. This is exactly what your body needs – ?A Break?. It did take time for me to feel better and sort of came bit by bit. Sometimes I experienced the worst day I?d had for a long time, but I never let it bother me. I just accepted the good days and the bad ones. What I did notice over time was that my mind became a little clearer. The odd emotion would return and my anxiety eased a little. This is when I finally realised I was doing things the right way and it all made sense to me. The feeling of strangeness was the hardest to accept, but I became a master at not letting it bother me. So, remember, it does not matter how long it takes to feel better, just start to give your body the well deserved break it so needs and it will take care of itself.
