Spare a moment and ponder over this. Imagine you live your life every single day, with the same levels of anxiety you feel perched on the edge, ready for a bungee jump; or at the doorway of a plane, several feet up in the air ready to tumble out for a sky dive.
Now imagine doing nothing like that, but feeling all those emotions when you wake up and remember, that after school you have to take your child for their weekly swimming lesson in the local gym - five minutes away.
Keep imagining feeling like that every morning before the school run, every afternoon after the school run, going to the corner shop to pick up some milk, picking up the phone to make/cancel a routine appointment, going unexpectedly to the library or a shop.
How exhausting to go through life feeling like that - and keep up appearances for your family, co-workers and the world in general.
Is it any wonder that so many people opt for numbing medication fully aware of the risks and side effects, because they cannot deal with life any other way? The only feeling directed at anxious people should be compassion and affection. At the risk of simplifying things, I will say that personally, it works better than anything else.
I go through life, with no medication. I am functional, and very “normal”. Ever since I was little, I tried to handle everything my life threw at me, and managed (a very debatable) reasonable life. What made this management possible was having someone with me. Family, friends, anyone loving and friendly, an arm around me, a warm hug, all made this anxiety temporarily subside. Today I have none of that support. So I struggle along. But I'm still saying no to medication. I don’t want to be numb, especially when I know that my anxiety can be disarmed when I have some support.
Today I have no support, so my options are :
Carry on
Take medication
Try and find some support
I ruled out option 2
I would love option 3
But option 1 is where I’m currently at
Now imagine doing nothing like that, but feeling all those emotions when you wake up and remember, that after school you have to take your child for their weekly swimming lesson in the local gym - five minutes away.
Keep imagining feeling like that every morning before the school run, every afternoon after the school run, going to the corner shop to pick up some milk, picking up the phone to make/cancel a routine appointment, going unexpectedly to the library or a shop.
How exhausting to go through life feeling like that - and keep up appearances for your family, co-workers and the world in general.
Is it any wonder that so many people opt for numbing medication fully aware of the risks and side effects, because they cannot deal with life any other way? The only feeling directed at anxious people should be compassion and affection. At the risk of simplifying things, I will say that personally, it works better than anything else.
I go through life, with no medication. I am functional, and very “normal”. Ever since I was little, I tried to handle everything my life threw at me, and managed (a very debatable) reasonable life. What made this management possible was having someone with me. Family, friends, anyone loving and friendly, an arm around me, a warm hug, all made this anxiety temporarily subside. Today I have none of that support. So I struggle along. But I'm still saying no to medication. I don’t want to be numb, especially when I know that my anxiety can be disarmed when I have some support.
Today I have no support, so my options are :
Carry on
Take medication
Try and find some support
I ruled out option 2
I would love option 3
But option 1 is where I’m currently at
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