How Mindfulness Helped Overcoming Anxiety

I’ll give you a bit of a backstory. Ever since I was young, I was a shy and awkward kid. Let’s just say while the others where out running around at lunch time, I’d stay in the classroom reading. Socialising was not my thing for sure. This led on to some problems with worrying about what people thought about me, magnified through Instagram in my teen years, and eventually started developing anxiety. 

However, a few years ago, I stumbled upon a podcast talking about meditation.... Meditation? I tried it out but didn’t really understand the point. I couldn’t keep my mind quiet fo longer than a few seconds. It was something that I kind of found interesting and would try once in a while when I was already feeling anxiety kick up again, “take ten deep breaths”, yeah nah didn’t work for me. My chest was still tight and my mind racing.

I don’t remember why or when exactly I started taking meditation and mindfulness seriously. Maybe because over and over again I heard about the benefits, how effective it’s been for people not only with anxiety but also with sport, happiness, and clarity. 

Nevertheless, I decided to implement it into my daily routine. Every morning when I'd wake up, I would listen to a guided meditation focusing on my breath. It was hard at first but slowly I started seeing the benefits. I was able to control my emotions instead of lashing out whenever I'd feel irritated, I was able to be aware when the anxiety was kicking in and bring my thoughts back to the present. Now, after months of the daily routine, I can say that anxiety has vanished. For those of you who are maybe going through it now, this sounds impossible. But it’s the absolute truth. Here are some resources that I’ve tried and found effective:

Aware App - An intensive mindfulness app where there are in depth courses focused on different aspects, such as: Stress, Improving Focus, Self Esteem etc. I have discovered many different techniques to use at different times. Also includes singles to use whenever you want.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aware-mindfulness-meditation/id1159708931?mt=8

Oak App- I used mainly for breath awareness but has other tools and techniques that may work better for you. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oak-meditation-breathing/id1210209691?mt=8

Tim Ferris Blog #300: Jack Kornfield - Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy in the Present - 
https://tim.blog/2018/03/05/jack-kornfield/

Two things I’ve heard repeatedly that helped me understand the simplicity of mindfulness: 
  • Meditation and mindfulness is not about making the mind go blank. If it where for this, you’d be dead, as there are always thoughts rushing through your brain. The aim is to use your will and focus on one thing for the longest amount of time possible. For example, light a candle and focus on it, whenever you find yourself thinking of something else bring your thoughts back to that candle. This way you can train your mind to focus on what you want. 
  • Anxiety is focusing on something that may happen in future, depression is focusing on something that happened in the past. If you become a master at focusing on the present moment, there is no way to feel either. 

I’ll repeat again what I said in my previous blog, this is based on MY EXPERIENCE. In no way can I say that this will be a solution for everyone, because people have different backgrounds, different stories that lead them to anxiety which may definitely be out of their control. But if you are looking to try something out that may help you in the slightest please give t a go.

Now this isn’t a miracle, overnight process. It will take persistence, and time to find what’s best for you and start seeing the effects. I am also aware that it is not the only thing that has helped with eliminating anxiety, there has been a lot of other factors which have mixed together to work, but that's something I can discuss in the future! However, I urge you to  just try ten minutes every morning and you never know it may work for you too 😊

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