You can't hurry recovery...

I get many emails from people asking for any little tips or tricks that will help them recover.  I firstly point out that you cannot hurry recovery.

Things I found helped (and this is through reading / understanding anxiety and actually doing it).

First a daily walk or bike ride (if you can).  Getting outside in the fresh air is good, even if you don't feel it at the time.  Exercise raises the endorphins and being amongst nature is calming.  Often sufferers who start walking, usually just look at the ground, don't take notice of anything around them, but over time as they recover they will start to emerge and begin enjoying the walks.  

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One of the biggest things to help me was relaxing.  When you're anxious / depressed your body will naturally tense up to protect itself - similar to how it reacts against cold weather (that kind of tenseness).  When you're anxious / depressed your body becomes sensitised and starts to overreact to everything - noise seems extra loud, you get more irritable about things, you overthink and over analyse etc etc.  This is because your nerves are super heightened.  Anxiety likes a tense body, and it needs to be reversed to help it do become desensitised and for your nerves to return to normal.  The relaxing I mean isn't just sitting on the sofa doing nothing, but I mean if you look at your body you'll probably find your jaw is clenched, you hold your stomach muscles tight and you probably rush about from A to B and are highly irritable all the time.  So let go of all tension in your body, like flopping .... but do this whilst you move about.  This is the opposite of what your body naturally wants to do at the moment.  Its quite hard to do actually, and so I used to just practice in short bursts i.e. I'd fully relax whilst maybe washing up, or relax as I walked upstairs etc etc.  Over time I was able to relax more.  The same for rushing about.  Slow down, take your time, don't drive in the outside lane but take the inside lane, drive slower, move about slower.  You might think this won't help but it absolutely does.  Not straight away, so don't expect immediate results, but over much time your body begins to ease.  You're reversing the process.  When you're asleep your body is deeply relaxed and probably feels good - upon waking your body instinctively tenses and you feel anxious again.  Its gone into the fight or flight mode, and its chosen fight.  You can't fight this, but have to go with it and reverse this.

Lastly you have to have lots of patience ....... and I mean lots.  Understand you aren't going to get better tomorrow or next week, and probably not next month either.  But by accepting you feel like you do at the moment, try and go with it however frightening it feels, go for the daily walk, practice relaxing, take your medication if you have been prescribed with any ..... and give yourself time.  You will slowly begin to notice small changes, and if you keep going then bigger changes happen until you start feeling well.  You will get setbacks along the way, but accept those too, pick yourself up and carry on.

Often when I tell people of these tips, they are ignored .... which is quite common.  People don't want to hear about relaxing or walking - they just want to be well NOW.  Unfortunately you will not be well now and by doing as suggested will lead you to a calmer place.  Believe me, I've studied anxiety, I've suffered it for more than 20 years and know how it works.  I was the same - I didn't see how relaxing would help, couldn't see it.  But it does.  100%.  But that's up to you - if you want to go on the same as you've been doing for how many months, then carry on fighting it ...... as I did.  You haven't got anywhere though have you, because you're still searching for that magic wand to make you well.  So why not instead try as I've suggested and stop fighting it, and go with it, accept it, give in, relax, let your tired anxious body relax and give it the rest its craving for.  No it does not mean you're giving up, but it means you're approaching recovery from a different angle - and one that works.

I've had people say to me - but I've accepted it and its still there!!!  Well you've haven't accepted it or you wouldn't still be complaining.  Accepting it means let it be there, however bad it feels.  For now anyway.

People have also said to me - but I can't relax ..... or, I relaxed last night but have still woken with anxiety.  Well of course you have - one practice of relaxation won't do it, and even whilst you relax you'll still feel dreadful.  But ....... with continued practice, days, weeks, months it will lead your body into a better place.  

It often takes a long time to get into the anxiety trap, and so it'll take an equal amount of time to get out of it.

Don't put a timescale on getting better.  I must be better in a months time for my holiday, I need to be well by Christmas, I've given myself 2 weeks before I go back to work.  Forget it.  If you do this you will fail, because by the time that date comes round and you're not well you'll feel upset, more tense and feel utterly wretched.  Instead just allow however long it takes ..... whether its 6 months, a year or 2 months.  Allow recovery to come to you instead of you chasing it.  It will come.

Everyone can overcome this.  However long you've been ill, however deep you feel you've become entrapped.

I recommend you read this website and get a copy of the book At Last a Life.