A comment on anxiety

I think it’s time to dedicate a blog to the subject of anxiety. Some of you know and others will now have the honor of knowing that I’ve been bothered by anxiety attacks since 2010. Why I started having anxiety attacks and why they continued to bother me throughout 2011 I don’t know. What I do know is that I am not the only one who is having them. In fact once I started talking about my anxiety there was no limit to the amount of people who also have had or currently is dealing with anxiety – majority of who are young women like myself. Basically what happens is I start to sweat or get hot flashes, then I get dizzy and might feel like I’m going to pass out or throw up, then my heart starts beating really fast, my vision gets blurred and I begin to hyperventilate. Yup, sounds pleasant right? When I first started having anxiety attacks I didn’t know what it was and I thought I was either physically very sick or in the process of going crazy. Neither was true as it turned out. I am sharing this with you all because I found something that can help: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. My therapist back in Denmark might pull out his hair now and say that it’s not that simple and that most therapists combine several different methods, but if someone had told me a year ago that I should seek help from someone who was using (among other things) cognitive behavioral methods I could have skipped the anxiety medicine (with the side effect of anxiety) and the psychoanalysis therapist who spend three months trying to find the (non-existing) trauma of my childhood. I could also have skipped the two physical checkups and the 9 months of cancelling activities that could potentially trigger anxiety. I’m not being bitter, I am just so relieved that I found something that helps me work through my anxiety and I hope that you spread the words: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. 

Obviously I could go on for a very long time about how anxiety has affected my life and how I deal with it but my main point here is to spread the word of cognitive methods. Suffice to say my level of anxiety is still above average, which results in both frustrating and humorous situations. 

I have decided two things; I want to be fully present in the moment, which means that I refuse to hurry through situations that could cause anxiety. And if there are situations that my anxiety is telling me to avoid or skip I have to prioritize doing them even more.

You may ask why – with all this anxiety - I’ve decided to move to one of the harshest natural environments on this planet far away from my comfort zone and my familial network. Well, how could I not? Today I had the pleasure of watching the Yukon Quest sled dog teams take of downtown on the frozen river. Yesterday I played music with two lovely girls in our newly founded band in the studio in my house. And tomorrow the temperatures will allow me to ski right out the front door and into the wilderness of Alaska.