Panic & Anxiety

How I Overcame Crippling Panic Attacks And Anxiety By Yaro [Read This On ChangeManifesto.com]( (If you don't experience anxiety or panic or depression -- that's great! -- Please forward this to any friend or family member who does as it could help them a lot.) I can remember the feeling so well. It hit me while sitting in a lecture theatre at university, trying to pay attention to what my professor was saying. I could be riding the bus home from university, thinking about my day and what I have to do when I get home. Or I could be in the middle of a movie cinema with my friends, watching an action blockbuster. Then there was the one time when I was walking down the stairs in my house, just a normal day with nothing much happening at all. What’s common about all these situations is that I am perfectly safe. There is no imminent threat to my physical well-being. Despite this, every one of these scenarios is locked in my memory for a reason — I experienced a panic attack that seemed to come out of nowhere. The feeling would slowly rise, a sensation in my body that something is wrong. My mind would immediately pay attention to this feeling, wonder what is going on, and the fear would fuel the feeling of terror rising. As is often the case, the fear of getting a panic attack feeds the panic emotion. It doesn’t take long for your heart rate to speed up, your palms get sweaty, your blood rushes, catching your breath becomes difficult and the world feels too intense. The ‘panic attack’ lasts less than a minute, but by the end, your nerves are on edge, your legs feel like jelly and you just want to be alone, yet you’re also afraid of being alone because you don’t trust your own mind and body. When Did San Francisco Get So Scary? I touched down at San Francisco airport. I was tired and my nerves felt ‘fried’. For the past two months, I traveled from Australia, through Hong Kong, Tokyo, Vancouver, San Diego and then San Francisco, my home for the next two months. I don’t love flying, especially the bumpy parts. Turbulence triggers anxiety, which used to be crippling and kept me away from traveling. As I grew older the more I flew the better I got at handling the fear. I didn’t want fear of flying to stop me from seeing the world. While I was in San Diego I felt a lot more ‘on edge’ than normal. I thought it was just because of the hot weather, which I don’t enjoy and is a big reason why I left Australia. That first night in San Francisco, despite it being a lot cooler in temperature than San Diego, I couldn’t sleep. My heart was pounding and I felt very anxious. The next day I still felt on edge, like I was in a perpetual state of heightened fear, even though there was no reason to be. Life was good, I was in a new city, had plenty of money, didn’t need to do anything other than what I wanted to do, yet I wasn’t in a good state. Over the next few weeks, I continued to experience what I came to call heightened ‘nerves’. This was a different feeling to panic attacks. Panic is more like a sudden rush of intensity, these nerves were not as intense but much more long-lasting. I felt on edge for hours at a time. I also noticed that I triggered anxiety in response to what I put in my body. If I had dark chocolate combined with even just mild caffeine in something like green tea, the nerves would hit me shortly after. I began to wonder if something was off in my body — a chemical imbalance perhaps? I had to get to the bottom of this. Living with daily anxiety made it difficult to enjoy life. Why It Took Me So Long To Write This I’ve wanted to write an in-depth article about my panic and anxiety for many years so I could help my fellow sufferers recover, to reach a place where they feel in control and calm, just as I do today (most of the time). However, it’s been difficult to sit down and write about this because I still know that the seeds of panic and anxiety are within me. Focusing my energy there is not comfortable. I learned a long time ago that spending all your time thinking about your fears tends to make them worse. This, as you will see, was the root cause of what eventually erupted into panic attacks for me. Even today going back and reviewing this part of my life and personality is something I have procrastinated. Despite this, I know I can help a lot of people who currently suffer from anxiety and panic by explaining what worked for me to gain some semblance of control and eventual stability, a platform of calm from which you can grow. There is a good chance, like me, you are or aspire to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, more than most have to deal with challenging situations, self-doubt, and motivate themselves every day to take action. It’s one of the most ‘alone’ jobs you can do, so if you’re not physically and emotionally all there, your business is not going to work. Even if you’re not an entrepreneur, I know for certain you are a creative person on some level. Writers, musicians, painters, designers, performers, teachers, and other people with above average sensitivity are more prone to suffer from conditions like anxiety. It’s the ‘curse’ of creativity, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I know from my own experience when you don’t feel great you don’t work or be creative. I’ve also seen this in people I have coached over the years, as many of them have suffered from anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, which have curtailed their business growth. My hope is by sharing the following steps I can help you to help yourself, just as I did. These techniques worked for me to reach a point where I feel cured of panic attacks (I haven’t had one in over 12 years) and impacted far, far less by anxiety. I still feel fear of course, and I have some irrational anxieties like turbulence on airplanes (the more I fly, the less this fear is there), but for the most part, I would call myself a recovered anxious person. It’s all thanks to the following 10 steps, which I believe if you implement, will significantly reduce your anxiety and panic attacks even to the point of curing them completely. There are no guarantees of course, but if you focus on these steps and be patient with yourself as you implement them, I know you will notice improvement. Before we look at the steps, let’s get one thing out of the way first… What Exactly Is A Panic Attack? What Is Anxiety? If you ‘think’ you have had a panic attack, you probably haven’t. Someone who has experienced one will know what it is. They make a lasting impression. A panic attack is not to be confused with ‘normal’ levels of anxiety and stress from life. We all face challenges, we all feel on edge, angry, pressured and nervous at times. These emotions are not fun, but they don’t stop us from functioning as human beings and tend to go away once the cause of stress is resolved. Anxiety that perpetuates over long periods of time, even when there is no clear reason to feel anxious, and stops you from living a fulfilling life, is often termed (and diagnosed as) ‘General Anxiety’. From my point of view, the labels or diagnosis don’t matter as much as whether you want those feelings to be there or not. I went through a period of regular intense panic attacks, I’ve had bouts of ongoing ‘fear for no reason’ type anxiety, and I have had anxiety triggered by specific events, like turbulence on a plane and a heart condition inherited from my father. All of these things were unpleasant enough that I had to do something about them because the quality of my life was deteriorating. Through research to help cure my panic attacks (more on this coming up next), I learned that panic attacks are the result of a part of your brain — the reptilian ‘lizard’ brain — firing up the fight or flight response. This response is ancient and meant to protect you from danger. It triggers the release of all kinds of chemicals into your body so you are stimulated to either physically fight off an attacker, or run away to find safety. It’s a super adrenaline boost designed to protect you from that bear or dinosaur that wants to eat you. However, since there is no real danger, your body is firing up for no reason. You have basically tricked yourself into believing your life is at risk. I look at panic attacks as the fear dial turned up to 10 quickly, then turned off just as quickly, leaving you a quivering mess. More general anxiety is like flicking the fear dial up to a four and then leaving it there for hours a time. It’s not nearly as intense, but it’s pervasive and makes life hard to enjoy. As you are going to learn in the following steps, there are potentially many contributing factors that cause both panic and anxiety. From poor thoughts to your upbringing and people you surround yourself with, lack of sleep and what you eat, to mineral deficits — all of these things can contribute to or be the direct cause of your panic and anxiety. Now, let’s begin, starting of course, with step one… [Continue Reading This On ChangeManifesto.com]( Yaro ChangeManifesto.com [Yaro Starak]Hi! I'm Yaro Starak. I've been living the laptop lifestyle thanks to blogging since 2005. I've traveled the world, made over a million dollars online and live a pretty amazing life. I'm the author of the [Blog Profits Blueprint]( and founder of the industry-leading online program, [Blog Mastermind](. 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