Anxiety

It started on a plane.

I was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off for a simple two hour flight…

I started to sweat.

Why was I feeling this way? I’ve flown my entire life (Giggles is very worldly).

I started chugging my overpriced water that I purchased in the terminal.

The plane felt like it was rocking back and forth so I stared out the window looking for comfort that we were pushing back- We were still parked at the gate.

Why was I spinning, sweating and all of a sudden claustrophobic?

Holy hell, what was going on?

My breathing became shallow, and my chest started to hurt.

Aw hell, am I going to be that person who faints on an airplane?

Who have I become?

It took awhile for me figure out, but I had become a person with anxiety.

To be completely transparent, I never understood what anxiety was.

Whenever people felt “anxious” the day after a night out, I couldn’t relate.

I always thought that anxiety was a feeling, an emotion that would keep you up at night.

What I didn’t realize is that anxiety is physical. It stops you and can paralyze you without warning.

I was mosying around the Brentwood Country Mart, and all of a sudden I felt like I couldn’t breathe. WTF. I am doing something that I enjoy and just ate a poppy seed lemon loaf, why am I feeling like I am going to have a heart attack?

It is an isolating feeling, because while on the outside you look normal, but on the inside, there is a confusing sense of feeling overwhelmed that feels like it cannot be alleviated.

Confused, I went to get to the bottom of this invisible paralysis and got a primary care doctor.

After meeting with her, I realized I had to make serious life changes, but I can honestly say that I have not had the anxious feeling like the one in the country mart since. Here’s what I did, and it has been v helpful:

• Exercise: I started working out a minimum three days/week. The referral was to move and be active whenever the chest started to tighten.
• Cut out my faves Aka the #holytrinity- Bread/Sweets/Pasta. And I feel SO much better.
• Meditate: I am the opposite of a calm individual, but I committed to a free 21 day meditation with Oprah and Deepak Chopra.
• Lists: Everything and for everything. No matter how little. Made it rain at Sugar Paper to inspire me to put  in a notebook with my 3rd grader handwriting.
• Decrease Caffeine Intake: I feel like I have had a venti iced coffee in my hand since birth. I no longer drink iced coffee and limit myself to two nepresso pods/day.

xo,

Giggles