Anxiety

According to Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 18% of adults have anxiety (https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics). I am one of the 40 million Americans they are talking about. For me, anxiety means having various therapy appointments throughout the month, being on two different kinds of medicine and having an anxiety packet I keep with me to help me unwind and calm down. One thing that I have learned in therapy is that with my anxiety I tend to grasp on irrational thoughts and tend to feed into them instead of recognizing them as an irrational thought.

                                   
 Even writing this blog I am having a hard time of figuring out what “irrational” fears I may hate because they all seem rational to me. I am constantly trying to use the Wise Mind teqnique to talk myself out of my over emotional mind. It does get easier though in the moment stopping and using my therapy techniques along with using my various items in my anxiety bag. Now I by no means am a doctor or a therapist, I am just sharing what works for me and what I have learned in MY journey, everybody has a different journey and different things that work for them. 

This is my anxiety bag, as. You can see I have my medicine in it along with a sensory bottle that I made with my kids (baby oil, glitter, and a travel size bottle to mix it all up in). I also have various things to keep my hands busy like a fidget spinner, deck of cards, dice, and stress ball. Lastly would be my essential oils that the really help with unwinding and relaxation. My therapist informed me it’s good to have something for all the sense, smell, touch, visual, taste, etc.