Anxiety and panic attacks used to be a part of my daily (and nightly) reality. I felt like I was fighting a constant battle in my own mind and body that was impossible to express in words. But there is one specific question that has helped me immensely since I have begun to ask it. It’s such a simple question, but sometimes the simplest introspective questions have the biggest effect on our mindset when we answer them with honesty, self-compassion and courage.
I hope this list can help you if you are at a loss as to how to support someone who is fighting their own life-eating leeches. Or, if you are that someone, you can choose to pass this list on to the super-heroes in your life who feel powerless to help you.
From that first day of gratitude journaling things began to shift, I started to see and experience things I had been taking for granted because I was actively looking for them throughout the day. The world didn’t change, but my outlook did – and that, in turn, changed my world.
So what exactly is an affirmation? It’s a statement which challenges your negative thoughts and helps you get into a more positive I believe they work because they drown out all our negative mental chatter with something positive. We can grab on to those words like a bright pink doughnut pool floatie in the dark and tumultuous sea of our own negative thoughts. Then we can hold on tight until those words carry us to calmer seas and warm, sunny shores which mark the beginning of endless possibilities.mindset.
Towards the end of last year I was offered the opportunity to facilitate a depression and anxiety support group. I hope that gathering all of these lessons I’ve been privileged enough to learn will inspire you to leap at the opportunity you’re considering running away from.
You can and should accept help and support, you have to decide to get out of your own way. You have to decide to push through the fear, to be honest with yourself about your limitations and your excuses and to just do what you’re putting off with the only criteria for success being “did the thing”.
Every new endeavour starts with one pivotal first step, that single step which could set a whole new trajectory for your life. My first step in this blogging adventure was to choose a name that would inspire and challenge me to write from the heart. To fill empty space with words of encouragement and shine a light in the darkness for anyone who might need it, even if the only seeker to ever find it is myself.
Portal to Change 