Why taking care of ourselves in anxiety conditions important.

It can be all too easy to abandon ourselves in life if we never learnt to self value and all too often anxiety becomes the result of taking on too much out of a sense of not being good enough or ‘flawed’ in some way. We all too often forget we developed those flaws in hurtful relationships where we are not taught essential skills of self care and self value..

In her book Power Over Panic Bronwyn Fox makes the point that many of us who come to develop panic or anxiety symptoms are often too focused on others and not enough on self care… We also feel shame for suffering anxiety and then the self blame we suffer for our condition just ends up causing us more anxiety in the long run. Also in the process of shaming ourselves we continue NOT TO put ourselves and our own recovery first.

Bronwyn concentrates of a program of self care allied with mindfulness meditation which gives us the capacity to watch our thoughts to weed out anxiety provoking ones and ones that act against our own self care.. We need realistic inner voices that help us to take positive action while not negating the truth of our struggle. we also need to have a tool that does not keep us endlessly trapped on resisting and reacting to internal body symptoms which in being such a huge part of anxiety can keep us imprisoned.. Bronwyn recommends working with and going with the flow of feelings such as frustration, boredom and relaxation rather than resisting which only worsens our anxiety condition.

Concentrating on our own wellness and recovery may seem selfish to some but we need a self to start with if we wish to recover. This self care requires we bust the myths that it is selfish to put our own needs and recovery first.

For myself I have found lately that just acknowledging anxiety symptoms are there while resisting as little a possible AND DEEPENING INTO THE BREATH AWARENESS OF THE PRESENCE PROCESS has helped me to move with anxiety instead of against it.. Anxiety can be challenging too for some of us for the activation of our heart rate may cause us to react in fear due to the fact that when we engage in a healthy activity like exercise the increased beating of our heart may activate memories of what it was like to be injured, hurt or nearly die.. Also some of us learned to ‘freeze’ or collapse in the face of threat so there are times we need to get moving and times when making movement means we are resisting something happening internally that is NOT LIFE THREATENING.

God knows dealing with anxiety conditions is a complex and – it seems – currently widespread issue for many of us. It is important to have a set of tools to use and find the ways those tools work for us. Also knowing that we can change our thinking around our experience of anxiety or let go of unhelpful thoughts such as ‘why is this happening to me.. its so unfair!” may also help some of us not to suffer as much from self blame, shame or stigmatisation, that in accompanying the condition only serve to worsen our self concept or trap us down the rabbit hole.

If you are struggling I have found Bronwyn’s book very helpful used in tandem with other approaches that explore the roots of reaction responses to trauma or neglect that lead us to develop anxiety as well as a lower self concept as a result.