RYL Forums - My anxiety will be the death of me... help?

Anxiety is actually a very useful tool, that was built into the minds of human beings. Before society was so protective, and supportive of our daily needs, we had to live in the wild, with many struggles, and things that could potentialy harm us. We had to constantly worry about food, water, heat, shelter, predators, and anything else that was out to get us. This world is like a big booby trap, that I take pride in saying, we have subdued. Anxiety is a built in mechanism that, I know is hard to except, but was put in place in order to protect us, and prolong our lives. You mentioned that you do not know what triggers your anxiety. This is true for a lot of people. Triggers can be things that subconsciously remind you of tramatic events from the past. Discovering these triggers goes a long way, in eventually understanding what is the root cause of the anxiety, and for the most part eliminating it. With regards again, to the origins of anxiety, if you were living in the jungle, and you all of a sudden came accross a tiger, anxiety would set in. The people of old, did not recognise it as anxiety. They didn't have a word to describe what was happening to them at that point in time. They just went with it. First their heart rate would increase. The cause of this is adrenaline. Adrenaline is released as a way to give you almost infinite energy, and believe me, when you have a tiger bearing down on you, that energy is well excepted. It's when you are working, perhaps, and you are going about your everyday life, with no immediate threats, that this adrenaline becomes irritating. It hightens all of your senses, gives you more strength and energy, and makes you more aware of your surroundings, giving you a better chance at surviving what it is that is threatening to take your life. Even starvation can do this. When the body believes it's existence is threatened by starvation, it will release adrenaline, and give you one last shot, at finding some food, no matter how weak you are. I believe where we have gone wrong, is the fact that our lives our so easy, worry free, and lack any serious threat. Excitment, threat, and danger are built into who we are. That is why we have so many daring people jumping out of planes, and climbing the tallest mountains in the world. When you take away this element of who we are, with some people the brain may begin to fabricate threats of its own, that don't actually pose any real danger to you. Anxiety can't kill you. Stress can't kill you, and depression can't kill you. Physiologically speaking anyways. All they are, are irritants to a life that is better lived relaxed. Did you know that when you have anxiety, your digestive system shuts down? This is another way you body preserves itself. By shutting down the digestive system, your body can focus on keeping you alive, by dedicating all of its recources to the vital systems within the body. If you were this unlucky fellow, who is running away from the tiger, than your digestive system will most deffinetely shut down. If he were to escape, the natural course of events would be for him to relax, which your body also does naturaly through the adrenal glands, and wait a day or two for his digestive system to turn back on, and he would be digesting bones in no time. The problem with today is that since we don't see any threats, except from within, we are constantly having bouts of stress and anxiety, and our degestive system can stop working properly, our brains can become depressed from the struggle, and our adrenal glands, can overproduce adrenaline, and underproduce the hormone that calms you down, after adrenaline has been released. None of these things that you are experiencing are beyond repair. I feel that if you understood, not only what and why your mind and body are doing these things, than you can except them, and in turn begin to eliminate these episodes of anxiety, turn your digestive system back on permanantly, and clearing the clouds of depression away. The first step for you, is to understand what is happening to you. Realise that it is nothing more than the product of civilized life, and don't let it scare you. Be courageous, and don't be afraid of having an anxiety attack, but instead, if you do have one, ignore it, understand what is happening, and that everything will be ok, and encourage your body calm down. Your body does not have the consciousness, you do. Your body isn't doing this to you intentionaly, because it knows that it bothers you. Your body is just as confused, and upset that this is happening, as you are. You are the pilot of that body, and it is relying on you to fix the problem mentaly, by understanding the problem, and allowing it to normalize. Be strong, be tough, and know that the experiences that you have had, make you into the person that you are today, and will bring great joy into your life, once you master what it is to be human, in a modern society. You are not alone.