Anxiety is an increasingly present disorder in our society. The first time I experienced it, I was very scared. It is a very unpleasant sensation that makes it impossible to lead a normal daily life. It is very disabling and frustrating at the same time. But now, over the months, I have learned to keep it at bay and I can tell you that anxiety can be overcome /managed. It is not easy, but it is possible. And a tool that helps to do this is writing. Writing is therapeutic and a great channel of emotions.
Therefore, I have written a letter to my anxiety. It is a card with which anyone who suffers from it can feel identified and it can help you fight it and overcome it. I encourage you to write a text or message like this expressing your emotions. I can assure you that it is therapeutic and very liberating!
Letter to anxiety that can help you overcome it
Dear anxiety,
Some time ago you decided to appear in my life and live with me. At first, youth me and, to be honest, I didn’t like your presence. It made me uncomfortable, it overwhelmed me, and it made me feel things I had never felt before, very unpleasant things, terrible things.
Every time you got close to me, I broke out in cold sweats and tremors, my breathing and heartbeat, but, without a doubt, what I hated the most about you was when you didn’t let me sleep at night. Sometimes I even thought that you were going to kill me.
I did not give up, every day I did everything possible to kick you out of my body, out of my house, out of my life, but the more I tried to annihilate you, the stronger you came back.
There came a time when I couldn’t beat you, you had completely weakened me and, since I couldn’t continue fighting against you alone, that’s when. And then everything changed.
I understood that I had to stop fighting with you that was not the way to forget about you. I stopped yelling at you to leave me alone and made the effort to sit down and listen to what you had to say. If you had taken the trouble to reach me, it would be for a reason, right?
Indeed. The talks with you were not easy at all, but I liked them and soon I changed my judgments about you and went from hating you to loving you and even needing you. How could it be possible that from being my greatest enemy you had become a friend, an ally? I didn’t understand it myself, but now I understand everything. I needed you to change my way of interpreting reality, a way that was totally distorted. I needed you to get rid of the false beliefs that had accompanied me throughout my life. I needed you to put limits on all that was hurting me, to learn to say NO, to stop constantly demanding and sabotaging myself to myself. I needed you to reconcile with the past, to lose the fear of rejection, to stop, to be me no matter what they say. I needed you to stop punishing me, to learn to take care of myself, to stop depending on others, to expel the toxic and take the helm of my own existence. I needed you to destroy me and rebuild me, to recover my inner freedom, my essence. In short, I needed you to feel happy and full again.
Anxiety, now I can openly say that you are the best thing that has happened to me in my life. You’ve been gone for a while, I don’t miss you because you’ve taught me very well to defend myself, but if at any time you need to come back, don’t worry, I’ll be willing to receive you, welcome you and accept you.
Thank you anxiety for discovering me, for changing me, for helping me grows.
Thank you for giving meaning to my existence.
Other tips to combat anxiety
As we have told you, writing helps to combat anxiety, yes, but remember that what will really make you overcome it is to. The psychologist is the one who will get you out of the loop you are in, but as a complement to the professional, you can use various strategies and tools such as these:
Start to accept that you have anxiety
When anxiety begins, two of the most common responses to it are avoidance and fight. On the one hand, you tend to avoid all situations that generate anxiety and, on the other, when those situations cannot be avoided and anxiety appears, you tend to try to fight against it in any way possible. These two responses all they do is contribute to aggravating the symptoms.
Therefore, to start eliminating anxiety, the first step is to, assume it’s there, and expose ourselves to it without fear. The less we fear her, the smaller she will become.
Practice conscious breathing
One of the main symptoms of anxiety, and one of the most annoying, is the acceleration of the pulse and breathing, hyperventilation. Not breathing properly causes the body to have an excess of oxygen, thus causing a sensation of suffocation and even dizziness.
Therefore, to combat these symptoms it is essential to learn to breathe well and consciously and the practices that can help you to do so are yoga and mindfulness.
Do sport
We don’t need to tell you once again what are the multiple benefits of sport for both physical and mental health, right? Three days of exercise a week will help reduce your anxiety. Insured!
Be compassionate, reduce your demands
Life is full of responsibilities, yes, but many times we are the ones who load and self-sabotage. It’s okay to slow down; it’s okay to not reach everything… Don’t let tasks overwhelm you. If you don’t set limits, who will?
