Before I start I just want to say 1 thing:
You are going to be Okay ! Trust me on this. You wll recover, 100%. There is nothing wrong with you, your body functions as it should. Just do what I tell you in this post and you will recover.
As someone who battled anxiety daily for years, all I wanted was a straightforward guide to recovery. Despite the sea of self-help resources online, 99% of them just didn’t click with me. So, let’s keep it simple because the solution is simple—very simple. But simplicity doesn’t mean it happens without putting in the effort. It all comes down to YOU doing the WORK.
What’s the work? It’s acceptance—100% fully accepting your mental state, anxiety, feelings, thoughts, and sensations. This is simple but not easy; trust me, I know. How can you trust a feeling suggesting a heart attack or hinting at other health issues? Or deal with persistent sticky thoughts 24/7? How do you accept that?
It’s simple; just let it be. Let it be without resistance.
Your resistance feeds the entire problem. Fighting or arguing with your thoughts and feelings keeps you stuck in the cycle. Remember, your body responds to fear with the fight/flight response; stress hormones surge through your body, causing various symptoms like heavy breathing, a racing heart, and more. Everyone reacts differently, but these reactions are 100% normal for a healthy human being.
The real issue is how you react to these symptoms. Do you accept them and let them be, or do you get scared, suppress them, or fight them, wishing them away? If so, that’s the “2nd fear”—the fear of the fear. And that’s what keeps you in a high-anxiety state, making symptoms worse; more intrusive thoughts, more unpleasant bodily sensations, less sleep, feeling more anxious/scared.
Maybe you’ve developed some mental compulsive actions, like checking your body for weird symptoms or avoiding certain places or situations, feeding the anxiety in the long term. Compulsive behaviors might provide short-term relief, but the anxiety always comes back stronger.
So, how do you accept?
Example 1: You feel sensations around your heart area, fearing a heart attack.
The key is your reaction: Notice the sensations, let them be there, don’t try to push them away. Be present with the sensations. You will not have a heart attack.
Your body is trying it’s best to keep you alive (with the stress hormones) so the last thing it wants is you dying at this moment, trust me om this.
Accept the sensations and tell yourself, “This is just anxiety; it will leave on its own. I’m going to go on with my day.” In the beginning, you may have to repeat this a dozen times, but keep practicing and repeating it.
Remember, this reaction is the key, the solution to your problem. It’s the number one mindset you need in your life right now.
Example 2: You get intrusive/unwanted thoughts, and you want them to go away, but they keep coming back.
This could be thoughts like “I am stuck in this condition forever; my life will never be the same” or “What if I hurt someone or myself, or something bad happens?”
The key is your reaction: Notice your thoughts, let them be there, don’t try to control or argue with them. They come on their own and will leave on their own. Remember, you are not your thoughts; your mind sends you all these anxious thoughts because you are in an anxious state. The key is not to react to them. It’s difficult because they feel personal or very real, and you may feel like you have to defend yourself or argue back. DON’T DO THAT. Let them be there, say to yourself, “This is just anxiety,” and go on with your day. You will have to repeat this countless times, especially in the beginning, but every time you do this, the thoughts will lose their power on you because you don’t react to them with fear or resistance.
This is all you need, to be honest. Just acceptance, but 100% real acceptance as a mindset.
The day you let go of fighting and resisting is the day you will start to recover. You will not feel this right away after a day or a week. But if you keep fully accepting and not reacting, and go on with your life as if you’re already recovered, you will feel the difference probably after a month already. You have to unlearn your mind now to react with 2nd fear; this will not happen overnight. But keep doing it; this is your number one focus.
I will post more practical tips and info about anxiety recovery in the upcoming blogs.
keywords: ocd recovery blog, anxiety recovery blog en mental health recovery blog
thanks !