Below are a few quotes and tips to help with anxiety/fear.
I hope they help in some way
1. Fear is not the big deal many believe it to be. Once you gain some understanding of it, beyond feeling uncomfortable, you see that it has no real power. You begin to see it as a normal reaction and are able to observe how limited it really is. Freedom doesn't come through no longer feeling fear, it comes when you see through its ordinary nature enough to be no longer afraid of it.
2. Feeling uncomfortable when doing something new is not a sign of failure, it is not a signal to withdraw. It is a sign of growth and growth doesn't occur without feeling uncomfortable. So don't retreat when feeling uncomfortable, embrace it and realise that something good is happening.
3. Fear doesn't exist anywhere but within your mind. The outside is a reflection of your current mind state, and so the outside is not the fearful place your mind makes it out to be.
4. Each time you refuse to hide away and do something you have previously avoided then your mind and body will get used to the situation, and your reactions will weaken. The only language your mind listens to and understands is your action.
5. If you feel sad, allow yourself to feel sad, if you feel anxious, allow yourself to feel anxious, if your mind is racing, allow it to race, so much suffering is caused by resistance to what is.
6. Learning to accept how we feel is the first step to recovery, trying to rid ourselves of discomfort and distress only serves to increase it as you are fighting against what is completely normal in the circumstances.
7. The less you obsess and worry about how you feel, the less inward, and more outward you become, helping you to be more present and reconnect with the world around you.
8. While you think that anxiety is something that happens to you, rather than something you create, you will always be looking for someone or something to fix you or get rid of it, not realising that the only way to recover resides in you.
9. Don't blame the outside for how you feel – When we feel anxious or down we can sometimes take how we feel on those around us or blame others for how we are feeling. This usually leads to fallouts with those we care about, more stress and an increase in our anxiety levels.
10. Be patient and kind to yourself – Don't expect or want to be better yesterday, give the mind and body all the time they need to heal while at the same time being patient and kind to yourself. Self-care at this point is extremely important.
11. When we suffer from anxiety, we have far more imaginary problems than real ones. The anxious mind likes to create scenarios and chew on problems that don't exist.
12. Cut down on the worry - Worry and stress are the most significant contributors to anxiety, indulging in either only hurts you, it doesn't solve anything. This period of your life is a warning and a time to take stock of your life and make some real changes.
13. When you feel physical pain it is your body's way of letting you know that there is a problem in that area, the same can be said for psychological and emotional discomfort. Suffering is not a punishment, it is mainly an inner guide that something needs attending to, that a change in behaviour or perception needs to happen. Suffering was by far my biggest teacher, I just needed to finally hear the message it was sending me.
14. We feel that if we stop struggling with our inner state that nothing will change, when in reality, the opposite is true. Does a broken leg or a scab not heal faster when left alone? It is the struggle and need to manipulate how you feel that is the cause of so much of your suffering.
15. You believe you want liberation from your uncomfortable feelings, when in truth it is the feelings that want liberation from you. This is why you must allow uncomfortable emotions to be present without trying to suppress, fight or run away from them. You can never be free of what you refuse to feel.
As you can see above, there is something to learn, something to see but very little to do. All the knowledge I gained pointed me in the direction of doing less. Less worrying, less overthinking, less resisting, less struggling, less avoiding, less suppressing and so I not only started to feel better but my mind and body could finally heal from all I had put it through previously.
Also through a process of no longer avoiding situations that brought on fear/anxiety, my mind's reaction to certain situations began to change. And by living normally no matter what was going on inside, I began to feel more normal.
This is what my suffering was constantly telling me, that I was on the wrong track and that I was still creating so much of my own suffering by doing the opposite of what I should have been. It was the doing that was creating so much of what I was trying to escape from. It was the constant doing, the need to escape and solve myself that was keeping me in a loop of suffering.