An Anxiety Travel Diary

Jess,  went overseas for three weeks. She was nice enough to share her experience with us and give a rundown of her trip and how she coped with her anxiety. Continue reading to find out what she learnt from her trip. 

 

I went overseas for three weeks and arrived back on Monday morning. I’ll give you a brief rundown of my three weeks.

First week – I was normal nervous the day leading up to the flight. I didn’t eat anything all day (I left at night) because when I feel anxious I feel sick and sometimes vomit – but that’s when I have a panic attack. As soon as I left my family and walked with my friends through the departure gates, anxiety and nervousness left me and I felt excited. That’s how I was all week: excited and relaxed. I stuffed my face with the local food and ate the most I’ve eaten all year! I was so happy.

Second week – This week was hard. The trip was a study tour and my first assessment was due this week. I had to somehow fit studying in around touring and everything else and my panic got the best of me. This is when I stopped eating and started dry retching. Nevertheless, I picked myself up and did what I had to do every day – which is a big achievement for me, I kept thinking I would need to be shipped back home or I wouldn’t be able to leave the hotel because I would turn agoraphobic again. It was at this point I told my lecturer that I wanted to quit the unit.

Third week – I was still feeling really anxious but continued doing what I was meant to be doing. I opted not to drop out of the unit and started to prepare for my last assessment. I started to relax again and dreaded coming home because I thought that once I landed back in Australia, my anxiety would increase tenfold. I was eating more this week and started to enjoy everything again. I passed the final assessment with the highest marks in the tour.

So that was my three weeks in short. And now I’m back home. I’ve learnt so much from this trip!! The big one being that I can do anything I want to and cope just fine.

Thanks for sharing Jess. You didn’t have a 100% anxiety free trip and that is ok. You went on a 3 week trip overseas and actually enjoyed it- that is a huge achievement in itself. Do not worry if anxiety comes and goes, it is important to know that there will be setbacks along the road to recovery. There will be days in the beginning when you will feel fantastic and then suddenly you will wake up one morning feeling like you have made no progress at all. Please be aware that this is normal and do not let it upset you. If you understand that setbacks are commonplace, then you can be prepared for them when they happen, and this prevents you from feeling like you have failed. 

The first thing to remember is that setbacks happen. Try to never let a setback convince you that you’re not making progress. It doesn’t mean that all your progress has been undone. In general, setbacks are inevitable, and you need to have an accepting attitude toward them.

Have you been on a trip recently? Please share your story with us

Shake Off Anxiety with Two Simple Words!

 

Have you ever noticed how anxiety is fueled by one simple question you keep asking yourself?
That question is…what if?


What if I drive my car on the highway and I have a panic attack? What if faint in public, who will help me? What if I get sick or lose my job? What if my mind never stops racing with anxious thoughts?

If anxious ‘what if’s’ are not quickly defused, they tend to spiral out of control, leaping from one catastrophic thought to another. Before you know it these ‘what ifs’ have triggered a tidal wave of adrenaline and fear.

What if?…What if?…And then what if ?

You can’t stop these ‘what if’s’. They manifest outside your control.  What you can control is how you respond to them.

In order to defuse these anxious ‘what ifs’ you need to answer the question quickly and limit the potential for the anxiety to spiral out of control.

A good strong response to a ‘what if’ is: ‘So what!’

What if I drive my car on the highway and I have a panic attack? So what! I’ll pull over and get through it like I have always done in the past.

What if faint in public, who will help me?
So what! If I faint I faint. Someone will come to help me and in two minutes I will be conscious again.

What if my mind never stops racing with thoughts?   
So what! Thoughts are just thoughts and cannot harm me. Eventually my anxious mind will settle.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t fully believe in your own responses to these questions, the key point here is to quickly defuse the build up of fear by answering the ‘what if’ with a strong enough response.

As long as you come up with something reassuring and dismissive of the initial ‘what if’ thought it will have the desired effect.

To make your response even more effective you can have a sense of humor with your replies. Humor is the fastest way to disengage your anxious mind. An anxious thought can be diminished in a flash of laughter.

This is effective because it neutralize the fear and places you back into a position of power.
Side step the trap of anxiety by always responding to fear and anxiety with a good strong ‘so what!
Barry Joe McDonagh