Today’s guest post is written by Jill Green.

She shows great strength every single day.

Overcoming anxiety and panic attacks that have been ingrained since childhood, she fights to achieve a normal, joyful life.

Here’s her article and for those that suffer from this debilitating emotional disorder, there is a role model to follow. You can achieve your goals in life.

How Self Love Leads to Healing With Anxiety
by Jill Green

My heart is racing in my chest.

I feel like I’m suffocating.

I try to take a deep breath, but I can’t.

My chest is in a vice.

I am dizzy and feel like I am going to fall over.

I sit down in a chair, but it still feels like the ground is moving. I want to run, to escape. My mind is racing out of control, and I can’t string together a coherent thought.

Then it hits – a full blown panic attack.

I feel like my insides are exploding and all I can think of is “I have to get out of here!! I’m dying!! Please God, help me!!”

But in fact, I’m not dying.

It’s 6:30 am and I have just started my day at work. I have 12 full hours until I can “get out of here.” I am 35 years old. I have panic attacks and this is how I started many, many days at my nursing job in a hospital.

Living with anxiety and panic attacks has certainly taken a toll on my life. The panic attacks started when I was quite young and followed me into my adulthood.

Over the years I had seen numerous doctors, read a lot of self help books, tried alternative therapies and new age stuff, and taken medication. Some things helped and some not so much.

In the last few years I have finally started to make great progress in overcoming my anxiety. But I had to learn to let go of a lot of negative crap that I was feeding myself over the years.

Anxiety did a real number on my self esteem and I felt really bad about myself. Regardless of my accomplishments as a wife, mother, worker, business owner, or anything else, the fact that I had panic attacks always lurked somewhere in the background, making me feel that I was somehow defective or mentally ill.

This secret I hid at all costs, lest anyone see how crazy I really was.

Here are some truths I have come to know about myself everyone else who must cope with anxiety:

1. We are not “different” from other people. Everyone struggles with something. That “something” may be anxiety, depression, over-eating, compulsive behaviors, anger issues, physical disabilities, etc. There is not one person who is not affected with some sort of struggle or pain. This is part of being human.

2. Just because I have anxiety and panic attacks does not make me a bad mother, wife, sister, daughter, worker, or anything else for that matter. It simply means I am more sensitized to anxiety than other people. What’s so bad about that?

3. People with anxiety are not doomed to live a horrible life where every day is a constant struggle. I lived this way for many, many years, but around age 40 realized that anxiety was in large part a choice I was making. I was feeding my mind a lot of negative energy.Anxiety thrives on this. Once I learned to fully embrace and love myself, warts, anxiety, and all, I made room in my life for real healing to occur.

Recovery from panic attacks doesn’t happen overnight. Part of getting better is learning that you do have to gently expose yourself to situations you fear.

It takes a lot of self love and acceptance, because you have to pick yourself back up and get back into the game, even after a panic attack. This takes some courage and a lot of trial and error, but to me this is a no brainer.

Living at the mercy of anxiety and waiting for the next panic attack to strike is awful. It shrinks your world and your self-confidence, and makes you a prisoner of your own mind.

Today I am a recovering anxious person.

I work a wonderful program that has really helps me deal with anxiety and actually diffuse panic attacks. Now that I no longer fear my anxiety, I have freedom and truly enjoy my life. I have learned that the other side of panic is real peace and healing.

Jill Green is a recovering anxious woman who writes an anxiety self help blog. Please read her Panic Away review for more information on the program that she uses to overcome panic attacks. If you struggle with panic, there is hope, there is help!

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