yep, anxiety sucks. i haven't personally suffered from it, but a fair few people close to me have. i'm not sure whether the docs are more efficient with diagnosing it, but it does seem to be a lot more prevalent and serious these days.
good luck with it all, nicky.
Personally, I think it is the lifestyle we live. We expect stores to be open 7 days a week, if delivery is 5-7 days we expect 5 days. If Blitz goes down we expect the volunteer site admin to drop what he is doing and fix it immediately.
And I think this comes about because people expect the world from us (or we think they expect it) and we don’t have that “meh, it will come” or “meh, we’ll deal with it when it happens” attitude anymore.
Nah.
Its not an attitude or an emotional response. Its an illness.
That’s why, if you are dealing with it, so much of the support is just utterly meaningless. No fault of those trying to help you but whether you look fine in your outfit or not is only the reason you are using to try and escape going to a party that makes you feel like you are going to be hunted.
Actually it can be “all of the above”, it depends on the person.
Maybe. Definitely not how I or the clinicians I work with approach it though.
Stress, yep. Anxiety can be a build up of trauma or emotional overload after a traumatic event for instance but not just an emotional response to “I want my internet and I want it now” as was pointed out in the quote.
You are right that it changes amongst people though.
I know we don’t see eye to eye on much Nick, but Anxiety and Depression counselling is actually my speciality so if you need anyone to talk to about managing it and the like, im more than happy to help. That goes for any blitzer for that matter.
Sounds like you are taking the ASADA mess a little too personally.
Jokes aside, Reboot is right. In tough times it always, always helps
to have a friend you can talk to. A confidant who is on your side,
and who can offer you, good and practical advice. Someone who
has your best interests at heart. l went through some minor issues
in my early twenties, without even realizing it at the time. What got
me through what l thought were my dark times, was having a network
of close freinds who l could count on to support me.
You are doing the right thing by taking some time off from work,
as that is a major source of your problems. A new job, a new direction,
a new nicky. Welcome back to the old nicky. Best wishes mate.
Good on you for opening up, it can only be a good thing.
The black dog has ran amok in my family, it claimed my big brother many years ago on xmas day of all times. My dear ol Dad suffered right up to his last days on earth. My little brother, and one of my sons deal with it on a daily basis.
Keep talking to those close to you, and those willing to lend a sympathetic ear.
Thankfully the days of being “a man” and bottling it all up are over. These things are as real as cancer, or breaking a bone.
As my ol man used to say “Dont let the bastards get ya down”
I have always been a pretty strong sort of person. Unfortunately 2015 has completely screwed me to the point that yesterday I was told by my doctor that I had pretty much had a breakdown.
I knew I was struggling badly as I had distanced myself from people I am friendly with (Reboot, Fairybread), had panic attacks including vomiting on Sunday nights after getting myself worked up over work, and was on the whole a genuinely miserable grumpy pain in the ■■■■ to be around.
I have always been the type to push through issues but for some reason this time I couldn’t.
I don’t write this for sympathy but I want to get the point across to any other blitzer who is struggling with life that the greatest thing you can do is admit you have a problem and face it head on.
I have taken time off work and intend to get back to doing what I enjoy in life.
I want to be the old Nickyd who loved life and I am sure I will get there.
Hmmmm....Sounds familiar,
I noticed you weren’t around as much and missed you. This is probably why Cowan is not playing for Australia at the moment, his fan club has not been pushing his cause on 'Blitz.
When you say “anxious” and “getting worked up”, what happens? Do you find that your breathing becomes more rapid and your body gets warmer? It’s easy to say it from my chair but I found I was getting stressed (not as bad as you it seems) and I found it was work related. Yeah we all joke about work and ■■■■ like that but I found I was getting so worked up over the smallest issues due to other factors at work so I decided to quit. Now, this isn’t the option for all (probably only a few actually) because I had something else to go into.
I have a friend who went through something you seem to be going through and he basically did a “cull” of his friends because they were the negative ones and they were bringing him down and he kept his other friends who he could relax with and enjoy their company.
Taking time off work is a good thing but you still need to address what is making you sick and why because you don’t want to go back to it as well. Are you back in the Real Estate game?
Everyone is different but for me, my stress relief is football. Sounds stupid because I get so worked up over it as well but for those 2-3 hours I literally think about nothing but football. If you’re like this, maybe go to a local game down in tassie or go and watch the tin rattlers and the poos & wees. Of course, you may not have the time for it but see if you can make some time.
And keep in touch with 'Boot, he needs someone to ban.
Cowan is dead to me since he left Tasmania. It is all about Silk and Doran these days.
When I get worked up I get really bad stomach pains that usually result in vomiting. The fact this happens on a Sunday is probably a reasonable indicator. I work in IR (the good Union side not the evil HR side) which is a naturally stressful and highly combative environment. When my father passed I threw myself into work to escape which has been a horrendous idea as I never really did the whole grieving thing properly.
No idea if I will go back to the same job next year but the first thing I need to do is just chill out for a bit and get my head right.
Like you footy is my big release valve (hours of screaming abuse at the TV). I also intend to get back into surfing.
Do it nicky, … salt water therapy is good for this stuff. If you’ve had a long break though, may I suggest hitting the pool for a few weeks/months prior to get some fitness back first. Floundering out there & or drowning is not good for the esteem.
And the exercise from swimming 2 - 3 times a week is good for stress/anxiety relief in itself.
Keep punching mate.
Running/cycling is good therapy to as it gets you outside into the environment.
Sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time recently mate. You’ve definitely done the best thing by acknowledging the problem and looking outwardly for help. I’ve had mild depression for years and I’ve always kept it to myself and functioned well enough despite it, but a bunch of stressful events/situations a few months ago led to it getting the better of me. I eventually decided to mention it to the GP. I’m now on happy pills, which haven’t had anything but a positive effect. Low moods and feelings of anxiety are much less severe and easier to recover from.
The first step of telling someone about the problem is the hardest bit. After that, it’s all about pursuing solutions, and the people around you have some understanding of what’s going on, and can talk to you about it. All the best Nick
I went through something similar after my Mum died. By trying to do everything and be everything to everyone I didn’t grieve. Then I did some stupid stuff, followed by a whole lot more stupid stuff. Seems to me like you’re on the right track.
Was very brave of you to talk about it here but it will help you. Hopefully it helps others also.
I have an anxiety disorder. I can’t control it, I get dizzy, hot, agitated, rapid heart beat, numb limbs etc. I’ve felt like I was dying many times, have ridden ambulances to emergency wards. I’ve spent months on heavy meds like Paxil.
I deal with it pretty well now. Try to be aware of your state. If you need to get a break, lie down, take deep breaths, nap, reset. Regular exercise is good. It’s admitting and knowing you have triggers, as irrational as they seem, that can get you back on track.
It makes no sense at times, but don’t deny it, or try to deal with it on your own.
I actually find a little alcohol calms and takes the edge off, but I can’t advocate that for everyone!
Sorry to hear you've had a rough time recently mate. You've definitely done the best thing by acknowledging the problem and looking outwardly for help. I've had mild depression for years and I've always kept it to myself and functioned well enough despite it, but a bunch of stressful events/situations a few months ago led to it getting the better of me. I eventually decided to mention it to the GP. I'm now on happy pills, which haven't had anything but a positive effect. Low moods and feelings of anxiety are much less severe and easier to recover from.
The first step of telling someone about the problem is the hardest bit. After that, it’s all about pursuing solutions, and the people around you have some understanding of what’s going on, and can talk to you about it. All the best Nick
This is actually very good advice.
My wife is a psychologist/counsellor working in community health and works with people who suffer anxiety and depression all the time.
She always tells people who ask for her advice to begin with a visit to your GP, whom can then help you draw up a Mental Health Plan and refer you to an appropriate psychologist/psychiatrist/counselling service if needed or alternatively your GP could be the only professional you will need to see, depending on the severity of the condition.
Also, please be aware that under the Mental Health Plan that you could be eligible to be bulk billed for your sessions with a psychologist/psychiatrist up to ten visits per year. This can all be determined with the initial visit with your GP.
Well done Nick. Your decision to open up is really brave
My wife deals with anxiety and has for a number of years. She’s gotten to learn what her specific triggers are and whilst she can’t always stop an occurrence from happening, she is getting better at recognizing how it impacts her and how to manage it better.
I’m a bit with Beastie. I’ve studied a fair bit of this stuff and worked in Fostercare for a long time - anxiety, trauma and depression is pretty prevalent amongst that group.
We can all be subject to different kinds of trauma and it can come to us in all manner of ways, basically it’s a matter of whether we have the the capacity to manage our particular environment at a given time.
A personal tragedy is often an event that can catch us off-guard and put us on the back foot. At other times the cause can come from something a fair way back in our past and is harder to put a finger on. For others it can be triggered by a physiological imbalance.
Anxiety is often our systems response to when we don’t, for whatever reason, have access to the coping strategies we need. It can start to manifest in our thinking, our emotional responses and even in our body.
We need to find ways to calm and regulate ourselves. There’s a whole range of research around this idea of getting the body and the brain back into a state of balance through basic rhythmic patterns - drumbeats are a really simple way to calm us physically.
Once you’ve calmed your body you can then put a focus on the emotional or cognitive (thinking) issues in front of you. I’d also endorse this idea of “mindfulness” - it’s a buzzword at the moment but it’s about being self-aware and present wherever we are.
It’s not an easy road Nick but I commend you. Keep finding someone to talk to.
When I got my hair cut the other week at the barbers.
somehow we got onto talking about family and how my dad passed away 3 years ago. how things change etc.
And barber said he lost his dad in June…
still have no idea how the topic got brought up. as its usually just work/martial arts/cycling/holidays etc
I felt a bit emotional after I left, even though time passes it still hits you. But not as often.
Everyone goes through close family members passing, just at different times.
I was just reminded of something, an idea I got from reading Ozzy’s autobiography. Apparently he has smiley faces tattooed on his knee’s, so every morning, when he wakes up and nature calls, he see’s two smiley faces staring at him while he is on the loo.
My lovely wife was suffering work related anxiety and stress when I first met her. I drew two smiley faces on the knees of her work pants, so that at smoko and lunch, when she sat down, she saw the smiley faces and it reminded her that no matter what, people loved her, and things were not as bad as they seemed.
I’m not saying rush out and get tattooed, but always try and remember the little things, the things that make people love you, the bigger picture.
If there’s only one thing I took away from what happened to my brother, its that if I wake up in the morning, I’m breathing, the sun is up, the birds are chirping, no matter what happens, its a great day.
It’s a very hard thing to deal with. I’m also dealing (very poorly so far) with chronic anxiety which also seems to trigger a couple of other medical issues for me.
