When The Anxiety Takes Over...

I'm someone who struggles with both anxiety and depression, which, as you can imagine is difficult. It's frustrating and affects me in a lot of different ways.

One thing that impacts me the most is this overwhelming feeling that comes over me (quite often), where I feel stressed out, like I need to get my life figured out, I need to have everything together, I don't know what I'm doing with my life, I'm questioning things... the list goes on and on.

My mind gets to be a lot like that last sentence was: it runs, it races, and my mind is just going.

This is very difficult to overcome because once your mind starts racing and you really start to feel overwhelmed by these strong feelings, it's hard to get them to stop. It's super easy to get into somewhat of a downward spiral.

I've learned (and have to continue to learn over and over again) that when trying to deal with this, usually, less is more.

What I mean by this is that I will usually try to go and do something "major" to feel better, or make a major change, etc. But the problem with that is that there is also major adjustment that comes along with that which will more likely than not cause more anxiety.

When dealing with this, it's more important, at least for me, to focus on the little things, the basics. Some of these things include literally just focusing on my breathing. This is huge. I also like to focus on little tasks: Cleaning my room. Cleaning my car.

Taking a shower. Talking to a friend on the phone. Having lunch with my dad. Completing my homework for the day.

These all seem like, and are, simple, everyday tasks which would otherwise hopefully get done anyway, so people think focusing on these things isn't going to cut it when you're ultimately trying to pull yourself out of a rough spot.

But that's why it's important. Doing these things will remind you that you accomplished something, that you're capable, and that things are or are going to be back to normal. Aren't these the reminders we need during those sort of times, anyway?

Next time I'm starting to spiral or feel super overwhelmed, I need to just keep in mind that I need to keep it simple and focus on those little things. The more you think about it, those little things are actually the big things.