ANXIETY – Self-Help Tools I Can Use Anywhere, Any Time

I was on the bus to a clinic in Tel Aviv when I got flashbacks. My body tightened, my jaw got stiff, I started coughing and was unable to think.

I noticed that each time I get anxious, my brain starts looking justification for the existence of the anxiety. Thoughts of death, loss of income, fears relating to my kids, my mom, obsessive thoughts that I lost something, many other obsessive thoughts (usually the same ones).

As soon as I realized what was going on, I started repeating my daily affirmations. It didn’t help decrease the anxiety but at least my brain changed its focus and stopped running toward disastrous thoughts.

Severe anxiety is almost impossible to deal with. There are medications that might help to some degree. There is also medical marijuana, which can be prescribed in those countries where medical marijuana is legally permitted.

Like with any treatment, it’s incredibly important to also have your own tools that to bring relief. Sometimes it might be almost impossible to turn to those tools because it feels like too much effort is required. At the same time, it’s important to work on them, since in some situations it’s all we have to give even a little sense of control. Maybe the sole knowledge that we have those tools is already better than the endless, ongoing flooding.

This time, in Tel Aviv, I was in the middle of the street, it was extremely loud around me, all the cars and buses, and the noise of the road works made my anxiety even worse. After leaving the clinic, I decided to walk to the beach to cleanse my energy by standing in the water. All the way there I was so anxious that I would constantly check whether I had lost anything.

I finally got to the beach. While walking barefoot in the water, I would stop from time to time, look at the horizon and affirm while visualizing the anxiety moving down to my feet and being washed away by the waves. After an hour I was already calmer.

Of course, all my life’s problems were not magically solved. My mental health requires renovations for the rest of my life. At the same time, I managed to decrease my level of anxiety and was even able to go to the market, get a cup of pomegranate and take a bus back.

Tomorrow I fly back to Warsaw, where there will be no beach. Instead, I will look at the colorful leaves, go to a park or just sit by a water fountain.

I will keep affirming every day.