hand rising from dark ocean under cloudy sky

I’ve been battling my old anxiety demons continuously since my concussion setback. That was seven weeks ago. The concussion symptoms themselves were sorta kinda back to okay within two weeks, though some of the symptoms persisted a few weeks longer. But the anxiety and panic ballooned and ballooned until they once again started afflicting me with physical symptoms that prevented me from using my arms and legs.

Many of the blog posts I have written in the past seven weeks were typed in a hurry; and once they were dashed off to you, I had to rest my arms for the remainder of the day. Sometimes I wrote the blog posts using voice and touch screen only, which is easier on my arms, but still requires strength that’s limited for me right now. Every morning when I wake and start to use my limbs, I get the uncommon pleasure—that is, horror—of discovering which body parts are going to be functional that day, and which aren’t.

And so anxiety related to recovering from my concussion morphs into anxiety about the anxiety itself. And so the cycle persists, until broken—which can be done through certain techniques and help from health care providers—none of which are quick or easy fixes, with the exception of psychiatric pills, which I am already maxed out on and desperately need to withdraw from, as they are now causing as much (or more) side effect damage as help.

And then the whole world blows up with the coronavirus epidemic. (If you haven’t already, please read my article Best Coronavirus Advice on how to protect yourself and others!) And my anxiety, which by this point had gotten sorta kinda back to okay, spiked once again.

This time around, I have less access to my health care providers, some of whom have closed their doors, and others of whom I have elected not to see, wanting to practice social distancing as much as possible.

However, several of my providers are able to offer services through phone and video chat: a blessing. And I am leaning in hard on techniques I can practice at home to manage my anxiety: meditation (see my article Meditation 101 for more info), energy practices taught to me by my new holistic psychiatrist, breathing exercises taught to me by my new holistic physical therapist, eating well and supplementing well, exercising (I can’t always run, but I can usually walk), and calling and texting numerous friends and family members whom I know I can rely on to provide me with love and support (as I love and support them back).

But all of this is not what I meant to write about today! I meant to write about two articles I recently read that describe how other people have healed from their anxiety troubles, and to compare their experiences with my own. And to write about what works in healing anxiety, and what doesn’t. Because I’m betting that lots of you out there have been infected by the anxiety bug . . . if not by the actual bug. And there are mental health solutions out there. Solutions other than hard drugs. Solutions that work better than hard drugs and with no side effects!

However, as this blog post is long enough, and I never know these days when my arm strength is going to give out on me, I’ll save the discussion of these two fascinating articles for next time. Until then, tell me, how are you coping these days? Have you been infected by the anxiety bug? Reading too much in the horror genre (i.e., news articles)? Watching too many scary TV shows (i.e., the TV news)? How are you dealing with your anxiety in the face of these real events that are really frightening and really harming real people? Are we gonna be okay? Are we gonna get through this?

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We’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get through this. Love to you. Leave a comment. Tell us you’re okay. Hugs. L.A.