Ways I Deal with My Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
“Living with anxiety is like being followed by a voice. It knows all your insecurities and uses them against you. It gets to the point when it’s the loudest voice in the room. The only one you can hear.” — HealthyPlace
For ten years, I have been waking up with a heavy feeling in my chest and stomach. I wake up feeling a sense of fear, not knowing where it stems from. I spent my school years in the terror of getting expelled for the slightest mistake I made in an assignment. I feared skipping a major examination when I skipped college for a day, simply because I was sick. Whereas there was, in fact, no exam on that day, and it was entirely my paranoia. I woke up in the morning feeling scared of losing my parents because we had a small fight the night before. I thought I was overthinking. I was, indeed, overthinking because none of the above assumptions ever came true.
Living with an anxiety disorder is not pretty. It’s a clinical condition where a person has excessive and inappropriate worry about certain situations that are not restricted to any particular circumstances. It took years for people to understand that my anxiety was not a temporary thought “just in your head” and “calm down” or “don’t worry” is not going to make the irrational fear, and panic magically disappear. However, I have had to hear all these remarks for years, until I stopped paying attention to them because I knew I needed therapy and medication. Anxiety was here on one long vacation with no end date.
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
To begin with the basic definition, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is the excessive, irrational worry about everyday events for no apparent reason. People with GAD tend to always fear the worst, and find it difficult to stop worrying about themselves, their loved ones, and everything else related to them that has the potential of turning their lives around, for the worst. Almost everyone experiences anxiety now and then but people without GAD tend to get out of the worry. Whereas, people with GAD are often worried about unrealistic and unlikely situations and keep dwelling on them until that feeling starts intervening with their lives, and makes it difficult to perform daily tasks.
What are the typical symptoms of GAD?
To understand whether it’s GAD or just a temporary feeling of worry which will go away, you need to pay attention to the prominent symptoms, how frequently they appear, and how long they last.
Some typical symptoms are –
· Perspiring for no apparent reason
· Headaches due to lack of sleep
· Loss of appetite and gag after eating
· Heavy breathing and faster heart rate
· Trouble sleeping, being restless at night, and trouble staying asleep
· Feeling of irritability and having a short attention span
· Difficulty concentrating on any task because of restlessness
· Excessive nervousness and worry which is often disproportionate to the level of risk
· Feeling exhausted without doing much
· Unrealistic and irrational fear of danger which is not there but your mind is at red alert mode
· Muscle soreness near the neck caused by sitting or sleeping in wrong positions
· Needing to pee frequently without drinking much water, and this one’s real!
How can Generalized Anxiety Disorder be dealt with?
The whole point of writing this article was to suggest some underrated but effective ways of calming yourself (even if it is for a few hours) from the feeling of overwhelming anxiety. If you browse through the web, you’ll get hundreds and thousands of articles describing GAD and all the other types of anxiety. You’ll also find various blogs on the available clinical treatments of the same. But, as someone who has personally been dealing with GAD for 10 years, I have seldom come across articles providing everyday remedies for GAD.
Also read: What to know about anxiety
There are various activities I have indulged myself in and several habits I have been trying to form over the years, and it has been a journey of trial and error.
Some effective ways to handle anxiety are —
- Coloring Mandala Artbooks
One of the best ways you can calm yourself when you feel anxious is by spending time on coloring books. There are several mandala coloring books for adults available on online shopping websites. Get yourself a set of color pencils or crayons, and get started. This activity can be done at any time at any place, and it gives a deep sense of calm and well-being.
2. Drinking Chamomile tea
Even if you are not a tea aficionado, you must try out the various herbal therapeutic tea available online and offline. Chamomile tea is especially effective in reducing stress and anxiety. It also works as a mild tranquilizer which helps you sleep well.
3. Going on a 30 minutes walk
The Covid-19 Pandemic has made our lifestyles sedentary. We spend hours sitting on a chair in front of our laptops and computers. Such an unhealthy lifestyle can lead us to feel unproductive and lethargic. While working out seems too much of an effort, going for a 30 minutes walk before or after work/study can help reduce anxiety.
4. Investing in an Aromatherapy diffuser
It’s popularly suggested that good smells can help calm feelings of restlessness and anxiety. Invest in a good diffuser and Lavender oil. Lavender is the most popular aromatherapy oil. Having your safe space smell good will definitely help you calm yourself. You can get diffusers on various online shopping websites.
5. Diary writing
A personal diary is akin to a best friend. Humans are social animals, and we stay sane through interactions with our loved ones but with everyone having busy lives, and barely any time to connect, it’s difficult to vent to a friend all the time. Instead, writing your feelings out in a diary or a notebook will help ease your nervous feeling. You can also read those entries later, and reflect on how you were feeling versus your present feelings.
6. Back counting from 100 to 0 * 3
This is one of the best ways to calm your anxiety. Thanks to my therapist who suggested this exercise for me to try. To do this exercise, all you have to do is lie on your bed, close your eyes, and slowly and steadily count back from 100 to 0. Repeat this exercise thrice, and it will most likely help your wandering thoughts and feelings settle.
With that being said, these six practices have helped me immensely but may not be effective for everyone. It’s always advisable to consult a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can be scary and bitter. Often, people use terms like “panic attack” and “panic disorder” very casually without realizing their gravity. Anxiety can make or break you. It can be terrifying for people experiencing GAD first-hand, and it should not be taken lightly. Most people dealing with Anxiety Disorder need clinical intervention and medication to keep worries under control. While it may not be completely incurable, it can be prevented from becoming extreme. People with GAD can live normal and free lives with the proper remedies and treatment. All you have to do is reach out for help and you will be just fine.
