Friends and Family Price

How's it going, guys? I have a pretty different topic today, something that I want people to know and understand. This post applies to all and every person that knows somebody with anxiety. I know that it might be scary for you to watch your loved ones and dear friends have to struggle with this mental illness, believe me, I know. While my little sister doesn't have anxiety, she's dealing with a plethora of other mental illnesses, and it's tough to watch her in so much pain and not be able to help her. Today, I want people to know the best course of action to take with the people that you know struggling with this specific mental illness.

I was nine when anxiety first began to make itself known to me, and I've fought with it every day since. I didn't know what to do or what was going on with me, I thought I was crazy and I was a little jealous that other kids got a full night sleep while I was awake, panicking because I was sure I'd seen something move in my closet, or because I'd read some chain mail saying I was going to die at midnight (which, by the way, NEVER HAPPENED). There was a lot of confusion, frustration and anger that developed in me and often times, I'd be crying until I fell asleep because of my fears.

I'm not saying my mom didn't help me, either. My mother tried so hard to calm me down, was able to pull herself out of bed at midnight when I ran into her bedroom crying, and held me when things were getting really scary. But it just wasn't enough, and that wasn't her fault. ANXIETY BUSTER NUMBER ONE: Don't ever blame yourself for a loved one's mental illness, or not being able to fix it. It isn't just a boo-boo and takes a doctor to fix. I can't help you to the full extent that you'll need help, but I'm kind of like a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches. I stop everything from coming out for a little bit, and you're like that too, if you do everything right.

As I was saying, it wasn't my mother's fault that she couldn't stop me from freaking out, and it isn't her fault now. Nobody could've controlled me, because I was in a scary, dark place, where everything was out to get me. ANXIETY BUSTER TWO: Chances are, your person with anxiety is in the same type of state when they're panicking, so don't yell or scream at them, that isn't going to help, it'll just make things worse. Hold them, tell them that it'll be alright, talk them down from the dark place they're in until they have more reasonable thoughts, ones that aren't as crazy as they are while you're scared.

The thing I found DIDN'T help me at all was people telling me to "Get over it" or that it was "something everybody dealt with". It made me get angry, because I knew that not everybody stressed, felt sick, cried and threw fits because they'd seen something that scared them. And getting over it? Almost physically impossible when you're crying so hard you could vomit. Which brings me to the final ANXIETY BUSTER THREE: Don't ever talk down to someone that's panicking. Try not to make their fears seem unjustified, even though they are, and just bring them to a reasonable place, where they can talk to you and make sense.

That bring me to the end of my ANXIETY BUSTER'S for friends and family. To recap, don't blame yourself, try and bring them from their scary place and don't talk down to them. Love and showing that you care will ALWAYS help in someway. So if you know somebody with anxiety, use these tips to help them feel better and to help you feel useful, too.

Happy Helping,

Elizabeth

Don't Be Mad...

I'm really sorry to everybody that reads this blog for help with their anxiety. I haven't really gotten around to posting an honest to goodness blog post about anxiety in a little while, so that's why I'm saying SCREW introductions! I'm going to jump right into what I have to say.

Anxiety is a pretty hefty mental illness and from what I can tell, it isn't mentioned as much as other mental illnesses. Only 1 in 10 people suffer from this, which is only 10%, for those of you that don't like Math. So for you newcomers, that's what I'm talking about when I say "What do I do when I wake up in a panic?" (Panic is short form for "panic attack" or "anxiety attack", by the way).

Trust me when I say that I've dealt with that on MANY occasions. Mostly it's because I've woken up from a nightmare, or I've woken up and then fallen into a panic when really, all I want is to fall into sleep. I'll always be the first to tell you when something is hard for me, and this topic is VERY difficult for me to do.

When I wake up in a panic, I take what seems to me like a cowardly path. I turn on my television and fall asleep to that, or read a book until my eyes can't stay open anymore. I wish I knew better what would work for me, so I can deal with it on my own, but unfortunately, I can't find anything that works for me, because, if you've never dealt with a panic before, these thoughts are taunting.

Here's what I know you're SUPPOSED to do. I may or may not have mentioned before that, when I was younger, I went to group therapy for support in my journey with anxiety. I kept the workbook for that close and near to me, just in case I needed it. It doesn't exactly work for me very well now, but it could work for you if you need it to.

Chances are, people that don't understand anxiety will tell you that your fears are just that: fears. They might've said you'll get over them, or that you need to take things less seriously. As you and I both know, that's much easier said than done. What I want you to do next time you've started to panic is this. 

1. Take a deep breath and rate your fear on a scale from 1-10.
2. Think about your fear and think about the reasons your feeling this way. What happened? What could happen? Why isn't this very likely?
3. Take all your answers and create a more realistic thought. Focus on that and re-rate your fear on the same 1-10 scale. Has this process brought your fear down?

Practice this, make sure that you write this down somewhere if you think you'll need it. This isn't my process, it actually belongs to the Cool Kids program that I think originated in Europe, because it all sounds very British, but that's not important. What's important is results.

Anxiety is a nasty hobknocker (I'm trying to be British here), but you can defeat it. Believe in yourself, believe in your strengths and have confidence that everything will be fine. As one of my favourite bloggers, Kandee Johnson, says:

"You are more beautiful than you know, more talented than you think, and more loved than you can imagine!"

And though you may not think that has anything to do with this now very cheesy post, it does. Because confidence, love and overall strength is what beats anxiety everyday.

Your Sappy Friend,
Elizabeth 

Dealing with Sadness and Depression

How is everybody on this lovely day? Wait, how lovely can a day be when a murderer is let loose? Oh wait, I'm sorry, she's not a murderer. The jury said so. She's just a liar.

Cue my extreme sadness/borderline depression here. Innocent little Caylee Marie Anthony was born five years ago into a family that wouldn't love her and was taken out of this world two years later. There is no other explanation of her death besides her mother's obvious mental insanity, far greater than mine or yours. If you have any reasoning behind her death, I'd honestly like to hear it, because maybe my facts are screwed up. But probably not.

When I first heard that Casey Anthony would actually get to live the rest of her life, unlike her daughter, I felt physically sick, I was that sad. I had to sit down and just think for a little bit. And I came up with this.

Caylee Anthony certainly didn't live a charmed life. It was short, and likely empty of any sort of love whatsoever. She likely died a sad death, sadder than most, and never really got to live. But now, little Caylee Anthony is safe, wherever she may be. She can be a normal little two year old angel and not have to worry about being fed, or bathed, or neglected, if that happened in her home (I'm speculating, just my opinions, not actually based on fact). And while Casey Anthony didn't exactly have justice served to her here, I believe that in the next world or dimension or wherever we go after death, judgement will be served. I've read a lot of people's posts that have the same opinion.

If you're ever having a sad time in your life, try and think of the positive. As impossible as it may seem, there is almost always some hidden somewhere. So take a moment of silence for not only the life that was lost, but the injustice that was served.

With love,

Elizabeth

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My Poetry (or an attempt, anyway)

So fresh, unbearable
Searing pain in my chest.
It builds and grows to eat me whole.
I don't think I can do this anymore.

My eyes fall shut, my tears drip down,
My senses sharp, my feelings profound.
I lose my grip, my hold on life,
As daytime fades to the dreaded night.

My future flashes before my eyes,
The fear and pain of my demise.
I feel my heart clenching in my chest,
Fears filled with agony at their best.

So that's my attempt at poetry. I know I already posted today, but I felt bad just promoting myself and not actually helping anybody who was reading, so here you go. I wrote this once when I was in the middle of a panic attack and I really just needed to release. I was crying and scared but more than anything, I wanted to remember exactly how I felt and what I did to help myself. 

Now, so I can communicate with you all better, leave me a comment telling me how you deal with your anxiety, maybe leave a little something you might've written and tell me what you think of my poetic release. Just please, try not to be too mean!

Yours in Horrible Poetry,

Elizabeth

Drop Me a Line!

Howdy Folks!

My head isn't really in the right state at the moment to write a post about dealing with anxiety or any of those things. In fact, what I really want from you today is kind of a big, but worthwhile, favour.

Sadly, you cannot see the traffic that this blog is getting. Basically, it's getting none. Well, except for you, but you know what I'm getting at. Anyway, this means that people OBVIOUSLY aren't sharing this blog with other people. Now let me start by saying that I don't want this blog to be super popular, trust me. Hopefully, I'm not coming across like that. I want my other blog to be frequented, but the fewer visitors here means less people with anxiety.

That being said, you can't fool me. I know there are more people in the world with anxiety that need help. I want to give them as much help as I can. Yes, I know, this blog post isn't doing anything. But if nobody reads this blog in the first place, my blog isn't going to help ANYBODY, period. So that's where you come in.

If you have anxiety, tell me about if. E-mail me at ifyouknowyourecrazy@hotmail.ca if you want to tell me things, or if there are things you want help with and maybe things I should cover in my blog posts. If your friend has anxiety, or any mental illness, tell them about it! Like this blog's Facebook page, and share your favourite blog posts with people. I want humans to get the help they deserve, and this is a free way to do it. By no means do I want a lot of views, I just want to help a lot of people.

Your Helping Hand,

Elizabeth

Sadness, Happiness and Updates

Hey guys, how's it been hanging? I'm really sorry I haven't written a new post in a while, it's just that I've been really busy. I know, no excuse, right? Just because I'm busy doesn't mean I shouldn't be helping you. Being busy is a stupid excuse.

That's why I have another, much more worthy excuse. I've actually been feeling really ill lately. Not physically ill, although that comes along with it, but mentally ill. Obviously, I'm already mentally ill, or I wouldn't be writing these blog posts. But I've been feeling a little bit relapse-y, for lack of a better term. I'm not going to get into it, not because I don't want to, but because I'm here to help YOU. And, because I really just needed a good (but true) excuse for not writing on here.

On a happier side-note, SCHOOL'S DONE! And I'm loving life right now. Well, kind of, because sleep isn't really coming all that easily to me now. God, I'm so freaking depressing! Alright, think happy thoughts now. Unicorns, butterflies, sunshine, rainbows, flowers, new Shane Dawson video today. See? Now don't we ALL feel better?

Also, on a completely unrelated topic, has anybody noticed my disgraceful "banner"? I can't figure out how to make one. If anybody is reading this and would like to make me a banner using the picture up there, my title and description, I will try to reimburse your time SOMEHOW. Please help?

To wrap up this little post, because I'm tired and have nothing else to say, I just want to let you all know that writing this has kind of helped me take my mind off of everything I've been freaking out over. If anybody else is going through the same thing I've been, please, hit me up at ifyouknowyourecrazy@hotmail.ca so we can go through these things together. And if you are dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, fear or any type of hardship in your life right now, my thoughts and prayers (or just thoughts, if you ain't religious) go out to you.

Lots of Love,

Elizabeth