Feel anxious?
Next, check out these articles:
- π Untying the Knot of Anxiety, One Strand at a Time
- π You Might As Well Do The Thing: How to Make Decisions While Anxious
- π Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence and Anxiety
- π A Simple Idea to Help With Repetitive Anxiety
- π I’m Anxious – What Do I Do Now?
- π It Might Not Matter “Why” We’re Anxious
- π You Can’t Not Do Things, You Can Only Do Them
- π Do You Plan, Ruminate, Worry, Poke, Prod, and Fumble? How to Stop Overanalysing Your Life
- π Is it Too Late for Me?
- π The Three Causes of Anxiety
- π Why Am I Always Repeating the Same Problems Over and Over?
- π How I Accidentally Had an Endoscopy, Or: Anxiety & Me
- π My Life Is Not Worth Living
I experienced anxiety for most of my life...
... well... not constantly.
Occasionally I was asleep, or watching the Vicar of Dibley.
Worrying was always what I did best. But eventually my worry habit
spiralled out of control. After years of background anxiety that would spike and fade, spike and fade, spike and fade, one day my
anxiety peaked and never
went away.
I spent months living with near-constant fear. Each night I lay awake,
afraid of how I would feel the next day. There seemed to be no escape
from this cycle. I feared the only way out would be something drastic.
(Thinking about this possibility didn't help at all.)
Naturally, I didn't actually tell anyone about any of this. That
would be silly π
Finally, I couldn't tolerate it any longer. My coping strategy of "do nothing and hope it all goes away" was
clearly not working. I decided to figure out what was happening... and maybe even do
something about it.
Here's me telling
the story of what I discovered:
Eventually, I wrote down everything I'd learned about my
anxiety, and this turned into Walking on Custard & the Meaning of Lifeβa funny guide to life for anxious humans.
Walking on Custard is an unusual book, but I wish I could
have read it while I was struggling the most. It mixes personal stories,
helpful advice gleaned from experts, and tiny tales about wizards
and aliens. (Along with plenty of embarrassing stories about me,
too.)