Advice

@considerateNectarine9526

I think with anxiety the hardest thing to do is to accept it, you know? In the Headspace meditation app, Andy (the co-owner who leads a lot of the meditations) says that rather than trying to run away from the fear/anxiety/panic, you have to kind of look at it and address it. Not really dwell on it, but more like acknowledging it - yep, there it is, I can see how it's making me feel, I can sense what is happening to my body.

I tend to think of it as what we do when we're driving on an icy road and the car begins to slide. Everything in your power is telling you to steer away from the slide, away from the potential danger, but you're actually supposed to turn your wheels into the slide to even everything out.

I accept my anxiety and panic attacks now and it has really made all the difference. Instead of me thinking "oh no, it's a panic attack, I'm freaking out, it's going to be terrible!!!" I tell myself something like "it looks like I'm having a panic attack. I can feel it in my stomach. I wonder what it was that made it start. I'm going to take a few deep breaths and see where this feeling takes me."

It took a while to get to that point, and I still have attacks and anxiety. I just don't spiral and freak out as much.

How do you deal with PTSD?