Don’t F*cking Panic: The Shit They Don’t Tell You in Therapy About Anxiety Disorder, Panic Attacks, & Depression

Remember, anxiety is rooted in overthinking about the past or future. The past is the past. Be better right now by thinking about the right now

Check out the book Tidying Up.

Without that deep state of depression, I would’ve never learned how strong I really am. The pain I suffered then has given me the power and strength that I have now to take on any dark time, head on

THERE IS NOTHING SO BAD IN THIS WORLD THAT CAN HAPPEN TO

YOU THAT IS STRONGER OR MORE POWERFUL THAN GOOD.

SOMETHING GOOD WILL ALWAYS COME ALONG (especially alongside something bad). To me, this means that good will NEVER abandon you. It might be subtle. But it’s there. Always

So, how do we get out of that state? Besides having a support system, therapy, and/or an outlet for our true emotional state to flow freely... time is the answer.

Time!!!!!

Can you remember a time where you thought your pain attack would never end, and THEN IT DID? Same with heartbreak. It’s a quote that’s as old as time, but truly, really got me through it: TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS.

I didn’t know this level of hurt could exist, and I was SURE that this would last forever. Of course, many years later, I’m not only fine, but I look back at that period of my time like, “Whoa wtf what that shit all about?” I couldn’t believe I had been in a hole that deep. So dark. So lonely. It was scary as fuck

LET’S SAY A DISASTER IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE. OH FUCK. I’M

SO SORRY FOR YOUR TROUBLES YOU ARE GOING THROUGH.

However, your body, mind, and feelings are in a STATE. You are in a STATE; this is not who you usually are and how you usually act and respond in life. You are in a state of crisis, or a state of depression. It is happening TO you. You must separate this crisis or depression state away from what your true personality and soul are when you are at your best. It is not a fixed TRAIT of yours to respond or feel this way. During this disaster/trauma, you acknowledge and treat the STATE

the proper way trauma should be treated, and note that life won’t feel normal for a while. SEPARATE THIS DISASTER from your core of who you really are

Note that the following things are NORMAL to EXPERIENCE during trauma or disaster:

Relationships to food and eating will be challenged.

A surge of compulsive or addictive behaviors will surface.

You might get sicker easier.

You will feel exhausted, even after long periods of sleep. Perhaps fatigued, unmotivated, and lethargic, or “lazy.”

You might start to think of money, food, and shelter in a more panicked or confused way. Do I have enough? Do I need more? Do others that I love have enough resources?

New and old trauma can resurface, causing the feelings to feel like they are stacked on top of one another! STAcKSONSTATES.

You might get angry, irritable, frustrated, sad, confused, etc.

Crying spells or anger bursts

DAILY HABITS THAT DRAIN OUR ENERGY

Overchecking social media

Skipping meals (don’t let that blood sugar drop or spike, honey—it can imitate feelings of panic and depression)

Gossiping or bullying others (that ain’t gonna make u feel better about yourself, boo)

Caring about what others’ opinions of us are (the sooner you accept that not everyone in life is going to like you, the easier this one gets. Except for Beyonce—everyonelikesbeyonce)

Taking things personally

Oversleeping (even if it feels better in the moment, there’s no better anxiety spike than missing your first appointment! Or, even if your day is empty, you don’t want to throw off your internal clock [for the children, this is something you start to feel like shit about around the age of 28]) Letting petty shit bug you (choice theory: allows one to take responsibility for one’s own life and, at the same time, withdraw from attempting to try to

control outside factors)

if my space is messy, I tend to take on the guilt that my LIFE is a mess, and it’s always sitting in the back of my mind as another task I need to cross off my to-do list—therefore, I’m never able to function creatively at 100% when my

workspace and comfort zone (my bedroom) is a mess