It is funny how anxiety is this one word, but it has an impact to flip your world upside down when it takes over you. It is something I have dealt with ever since I was 19 years old and as being a Pharmacy graduate and working in multiple pharmacies, I have come to realize that majority of people in society nowadays, suffer from this condition. Therefore, I wanted to raise awareness to this topic and help people acknowledge that it is ABSOLUTELY OKAY to feel anxious and there are coping mechanisms you can use to alleviate your anxious state. So firstly, let’s discuss what anxiety actually is, some people confuse stress with anxiety, but they are actually quite different. Stress is the normal response our bodies have to any change which falls under ‘fight or flight response.’ In this state there are physiological changes in the body which make it capable of fighting the stressors or stressful situations. However, when this natural stress response is over-activated or stimulated for prolonged periods of time, this can lead to physical, emotional, and mental dysfunction which is what essentially anxiety is. In summary, anxiety is a state of mind consisting of constant worrying/stressing and fearing of what is going to happen in the future or overthinking things that have already happened in the past.
It’s really funny because my fitness coach at the gym I go to, gave me an analogy which perfectly described severe form of anxiety, she said, “it’s like there is a hamster running in a wheel in my mind that just DOES NOT STOP.” As soon as she gave that example, I was able to relate to it perfectly because that is what my anxiety feels like when I am in that state of mind. The hamster being my stressful thoughts and the wheel representing its non-stoppable, constant nature.
Once again, there are many variations of anxieties which people suffer from including generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder related anxiety and panic disorder related anxiety. For me personally, my anxiety is generalized and more so related to my circumstances including, making big life decisions, or if there are complications in relationships, being confused about something, facing failures or a health-related problem. However, if my anxiety does get triggered by anyone of the factors mentioned above my mind literally goes into that hamster running on the wheel phase. The reason why I am writing this blog is because I am sure many people out there can relate to my hamster analogy. Before I had heard of it, I never knew how to explain the thunderstorm or the crazy roller coaster ride in my mind. People would always tell me “It’s just anxiety, its in your control, JUST STOP THINKING,” well that is what the problem is, some people’s brains are just not wired that way, they CANNOT STOP THINKING, they cannot KILL THE HAMSTER, it is not an ON or OFF button for them or they don’t have a BOX and a KEY. That right there is the key difference between severe anxiety and mild anxiety or common stress. People who have not experienced the hamster in their mind will never know what that feeling is like and that is okay, it makes sense for them to not get it because it’s not something they have felt or dealt with before. The point here is though, that whoever has experienced the HAMSTER in their head, you are NOT ALONE because there are millions of people out there who probably do feel the same way even if it’s not your close relatives, friends or people surrounding you. My purpose of writing this blog is literally to support the title of this blog which is “Voice Awareness” to make my voice reach out to millions of people out there suffering from the same condition and letting them know that you are NOT ALONE.
Now that we have discussed what anxiety is and feels like based on our analogies, we can discuss some coping mechanisms which I personally use when I am going through a tough time or a tough situation which flips my brain into that hamster state of mind.
a) Spirituality: I have slowly been working on this over the years and have recently started to get better at doing this but is still a working progress and I struggle with it everyday. I am a Muslim and so I try to look at the situation from an Islamic perspective. Some readers may not be able to relate to this mechanism and its okay if you cannot because you will relate to other ones. Continuing with the spirituality mechanism, sometimes we have to accept that some matters are just not in our control no matter how much we want them to be, and there is NOTHING
we can do about it and we have to leave it to Allah (God) to decide what’s best for us. . If there are any Muslims reading this blog, one analogy that has really started to help me lately is, imagine yourself in a stormy night in a boat on the ocean and you are just sitting on the back seat with no control of what is going on. The boat is being steered by Allah and you have no say in which direction to take the boat. All you must do is sit quietly and have complete faith and trust in Allah and know that whichever direction he takes the boat from he will NOT let you drown, and he WILL get you to your destination safely. The reason why we need this complete faith is because Allah has the wisdom and we do not, he is seen the future and we have not, he knows what is good for us and we do not. So, when you start to question why we are not taking route A or route B and why route C because route C seems way too bumpy and the boat is literally drowning in the waves, in fact, it seems as if it may drown any second. You keep wondering to yourself why not route A and B because they seemed smoother, so why are we taking the difficult route. Well, you must think of it this way, maybe route A was smooth, but the boat might have bumped into a huge iceberg which could have made a hole in your boat and the boat could have sunk like Titanic. Route B might have been really smooth for the first one hour but then what if it was a shark zoned area and maybe you could have been attacked by the sharks. So, although, route C is bumpy, and the waves are splashing you right and left but this indeed is the safest route because there are no sharks or icebergs. In summary, Allah knew all along which route to take because he has the wisdom and all you had to do was to have trust and faith in him. Yes, you got wet from the splashes and your boat was going up and down which was freaking you out but at least, you did not get eaten up by a shark or drown in the water.
b) Distractions: keeping your mind occupied helps calm that hamster down for a while. Engaging your mind and diverting your thinking to other areas will alleviate that anxiety. For example, writing this blog right now is helping me to not think about any negative or stressful thoughts. Therefore, pick anything you like doing that can distract your mind including, painting, dancing, cooking, baking, writing, reading, gardening… etc. and the list goes on
c) Outdoor activity: for me personally, being outdoors and especially in the sun does the magic sometimes. I find being in the sun really soothing, so I go on multiple walks in a day during the summers, I ride my bike, I go hiking, I will do anything and everything to absorb as much sun as I can.
Therapist/medications: I have heard from many friends and people I know that talking to a therapist really helped them in ways they could not have even imagined. Even if it is stigmatized in your culture, break that stigma, and go get help when you need to, it is really IMPORTANT. talking to a stranger who is unaware of your situation and does not know you personally, can provide a completely different Therapist/medications: I have heard from many friends and people I know that talking to a therapist really helped them
in ways they could not have even imagined. Even if it is stigmatized in your culture, break that stigma, and go get help when you need to, it is really IMPORTANT. talking to a stranger who is unaware of your situation and does not know you personally, can provide a completely different It is not the end of the world, take the medication along with all other coping mechanisms and if it helps you keep in a healthy state of mind there is nothing WRONG with continuing to take the medication until you are comfortable to be off it. In some occurrences our brains may have physiological imbalances of certain neurotransmitters like serotonin (😊 the happy hormone) and we may need medication to fix it.
- Staying physically active:
This can include going to the gym and working out, or playing sports, walking, jogging, swimming, biking…etc. Exercising can release endorphins in the body and reduce levels of stress hormones including cortisol.
