How you can turn Anxiety around.....

I wanted to do this post to help anyone who maybe struggling with Anxiety they are unable to cope with. I have experienced this and luckily turned it around.

Lots of change can cause us to feel nervous or anxious, and this month will be a big month of change for many people which can trigger a mental illness.

• Back to work, travelling to client sites
• Starting a new job OR your role has changed
• New team structures
• Children going back to school & the school run
• Going back to the office
• Seeing people, we have not interacted with for a while
• Having a face to face meetings again

The list goes on....

Below are 2 personal pictures of mine 10 years apart-

The first one is me with my 1st son Will 10 years ago. I look happy, I was on maternity leave; however, I was suffering from postnatal Anxiety at a very high level.

Anxiety caused me to leave my recruitment role at a company that I loved mid-way through my maternity leave; I couldn’t face going back. I talked myself into a negative mindset, telling myself I was not good enough any more.

I didn’t think I could work with my colleagues like I used to, I struggled to have basic conversations with friends and family without feeling sick, I hardly went out, I looked at selling my house for a house I could afford on a basic rate of pay, so I had no responsibility in my life. I had a permanent knot in my stomach paralysing me.

This could be happening to people returning from furlough currently or panicking about what they hear on the news or social media.

The next picture is Will & I this morning before his 1st day of secondary school. No Anxiety apart from the usual ‘mum nerves for him starting at a new school’

I let the illness takeover my life for a short time. I had no job, used my savings to pay bills however I turned it around with help.

Fast forward to now, I have a business with a great team, lots of friends, I go out, socialise, exercise, have children and a job, all of those things that I thought would never be possible because of how I felt at the time.

How did I do this? I asked for help but it took me 6 months to realise it wasn't OK to feel like that....

1. The first step was telling my parents & partner about what was happening to me
2. Second step was going to the doctors
3. Third step was taking the medication I was given and sticking to the plan
4. Fourth step was booking in with an NLP practitioner to undo all of the thoughts I had created about myself
5. Fifth step was to join a gym and start going to basic group classes to build up my confidence

This took 6 months

I came to the end of my maternity leave, and I started to feel normal. I had felt so terrible for so long, feeling good was so powerful I used this to start a business that long term was always a goal of mine! I obtained a small loan to cover my bills and started from there setting small and manageable weekly goals that I could control. Nothing heroic just basics like meeting a friend, making dinner, going to the gym and completing a days work.

I hope this post gives anyone feeling like this the chance to think about getting help and setting some small steps to creating a better life. ?