Crystal

Hello all, hope you're doing well!

Had a chat with Lavender in PM

Anxiety feels like a wave getting higher and higher and you can't stop it, and the only way you can truly combat it is to find absolute calm and ride it out and use as many techniques to try and distract or calm your brain down as possible. It's difficult, it's a challenge to break through that constant barrage or fear and panic, but it can work and can be a massive help during the storm.

If I'm somewhere safe, just try and sit somewhere quietly and and focus my mind. I have distraction techniques my therapist taught me to try and move my brain away from things that are getting to me, but we all know anxiety doesn't just move on easily. Techniques like the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method (name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste in the immediate area), the ROYGBIV method (find something Red, something Orange, something Yellow, something Green, something Blue, something Indigo and something Violet, say the words out loud as you find them), and more. If I'm driving or in public when it hits, I try to pull over or get somewhere safe or quiet and either use the same methods to try and calm down or just drink water. Does it work? No, not always, like I said, we all know anxiety and panic attacks don't just stop, it takes time and even then sometimes the thoughts don't stop, but you do what you can.

7:40am

Very handy and very full-featured blog addition :)

The site is upgraded and back live. We'll be working to get themes back to where they should be and enabling most of the new features as we go :)

Yep, just while we run the actual upgrade, then it'll be straight back online again :)

1:05pm

Very, very hot. In the 40s (c)

My therapist.

Cleaned the bathroom

Strained. Therapy day is always a sore day for me.

Hello all, hope everyone is having a wonderful day :)

Pride is more an affirmation that we have a right to exist as people no matter who we are.

Despair. Utter uselessness, unending grief and pain.

Yes, been dealing with this actively for the past several days. It's hard to be open with people while struggling so the easier thing is to shut down and close off. It hurts