Hello everyone! Today's post is going to be focused on the good ol' anxiety. 

Since we've been born, people have always told us to face our fears. Of course, this is easier said than done. For some, this will be skydiving and for others it could be to go swimming. Often, these fears don't tend to get in the way of everyday life, but for others they do. People with anxiety tend to have an increased severity and number of fears which they battle on a daily basis. This could be anything from catching public transport, to asking for something. As many of you may have read, my biggest anxiety trigger is school.

If you've had counselling or therapy; which I strongly advise you do if you haven't already (it's a god send) You will probably know of something called CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) which exposes you to things that provoke your fears and anxiety. For me, I had to create a hierarchy of fears or things which provoked my anxiety. This went from 1 - 21; from the easiest to the hardest. 

CBT takes a lot of willpower and this is often why people find it doesn't work. On the other hand, not every method is going to work for every person. Personally, CBT is the best way to overcome anxiety, as you are facing the things that make you the most anxious. The more you do the things that make you anxious, the lower your anxiety levels will become until you have little to no problem with anxiety. For example; I used to get a panic attack every time I tried to catch a bus. Through CBT, I was made to catch a bus 4 times with friends and 4 times by myself. It was extremely hard, but after completing this I grew in confidence and now have little to no troubles in catching a bus. However, as many of you anxiety sufferers know, you can have blips. This happened with me and so I had to have another go at catching buses again before I could move up the hierarchy. Now, I am at the top of the hierarchy and although I'm tackling the things that affect my life the most, it shows how much CBT has helped me through my anxiety.

I'm not saying it's going to be easy, because the thoughts and the fears you have can be so controlling and overpowering that you may find that you cannot tackle a certain situation at the present time. However, if you give it a try; no matter how big or little, you have achieved. For example, after missing school for a number of weeks, I tried some sort of CBT to get me back to school. I first started and got half way to school, and as the days went by I managed to get school. However, it did take me a number of weeks to get here, so try not to beat yourself up if you cannot tackle a fear straight away.

Best Wishes.
Amy Xx