First of all, I can’t believe it has been a whole year! When I first started The Life in Progress, I figured that it would maybe last for a couple weeks and then I’d get bored of it. But now that it has been a whole year, I can’t imagine what I would do without it. I love everything about blogging. I love writing my posts. I love making headers and putting in quotes. I love sharing my testimony. There is nothing I don’t like about blogging.
I have always wanted a way to share my faith with people, but never felt really comfortable with talking to people about it. I mean I would talk to people about my faith sometimes, but I had trouble putting how I felt into words. Being able to sit myself down and really think about what I believe has not only helped me to share the gospel, but has helped me build my own testimony. You see, when I take a minute to think of what I believe, it becomes really clear what I know that I believe. All of these things that I testify of on this blog, are things that I have had invaluable experiences with. I know I am always up for a little advice, so I figured that maybe other people feel the same way. I’m not saying that my views and advice is for everyone, but even if it helps one person in some way, I’m happy. So much has changed since I wrote my very first blog post, never in a million years would I have guessed that I would experience all that I have. If you were to tell 16-year-old me that I was going to experience all the things I have this year, I probably would have said no way, José! I probably would have thought there was no possible way I could do a huge amount of what I have done this year. I have never been good at keeping a journal, so it has been really cool to be able to go back into my archives and see how much I’ve grown in the last year. I think the first three months of having my blog were probably some of the hardest, but looking back on my posts from those months, they remind me that I can do hard things and that there is nothing Heavenly Father will give me that I can’t handle. If I hadn’t ever started a blog, I probably wouldn’t even think about how much better my life has been since then. Having had this blog for a year has taught me not to be ashamed of certain things that I am not necessarily proud of. One of the biggest things that have fallen under this category is my CP. I don’t really talk about my disability with anyone but my mom and even then, I kind of beat around the bush. But on my blog, I can just write about it and it has been so cool to have had people ask me questions about it. I used to be so embarrassed about it that I would get super uncomfortable when people ever asked about it. But now, I think it’s really cool when people want to know more about my CP. I actually had one person tell me that because of one of my posts, they befriended someone with CP and it was super cool to hear about. It has no doubt been a long year filled with lots of different experiences. I still can’t believe it’s already been a year! Don’t worry, I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. In fact, I don’t plan on ever stopping. The other day, one of my readers emailed me and asked about starting her own blog. If you are ever thinking about starting a blog, do it for sure! Just know it takes a bit of work, but it is so worth it. I’m so grateful for the people that read my blog, you guys are awesome!
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Today I want to talk about something that I haven’t talked about much in a long time. A little over a year ago, I developed a bit of anxiety and had no idea what to do about it. I had tried a bunch of different things to try to get rid of it, but nothing seemed to work. But as of today, I have not had a single panic attack since the second week of September. I know to someone that doesn’t have anxiety, this may not seem like that big of a deal, but to me it is. I have since learned a couple ways to calm myself down when I start to get a little anxious, so I figured I’d share a couple of my methods with you.
I’ll start with the method that I use the most: breathing. I know it may sound a little obvious but the best thing to do is take a couple deep breaths. I remember when people used to tell me this and I would actually get a little annoyed with them because I didn’t think it could actually work. It turns out that it does and I didn’t really understand how until I was reading a book about anxiety one day. When I used to have these panic attacks part of the reason was that I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air in my lungs. The reason why I felt this way was actually because when you take shallow breaths, too much stale air gets trapped in your lungs, as a result, there is no room for fresh air. So, what I have found most effective is to take a deep breath and exhale for a longer time than you normally would. This helps push out not only the fresh air in your lungs, but the stale air too. Another thing I feel when I used to have these panic attacks was that everything was trapped in my mind and that I would never be able to stop thinking about whatever I was worried about. At this point, I would give myself a couple of options: write it down, play piano or get artsy. When I would get to feeling panicky, I wouldn’t be able to talk about things very clearly, so I found other ways to express myself. One of the things that calms me down the best is to marble paper. This may sound a little weird, but my favorite method to marble paper is to use shaving cream and food coloring. Being able to feel the shaving cream with my hands really calms me down for some reason. I think one of the best ways to make me feel calmer is to do something that I don’t have to really think about. For me, I instantly think of my piano. I have played the piano for the majority of my life, so when I sit down at my piano, I don’t even have to think, I just play. Another thing that I do when I get panicky is to just pray about whatever it is I am worried about. Praying about it helps me remember that Heavenly Father is protecting me and He will help me through anything I struggle with. One thing I try to do is work on ways to prevent my anxiety. There are a couple ways I do this. When I’m feeling anxious, I often feel trapped, in order to avoid this, I don't wear shirts with tighter necks. It has also helped to make healthy choices, like exercising regularly, limiting my sugar intake, drinking lots of water and getting a good night’s sleep. I think one of the most important things to do when you have anxiety is to know what your triggers are and learn how not to worry about them so much. One thing that I always used to get me really nervous was talking in front of a group of people. Now, I can stand up in front of a class and give a presentation without a hitch. Just remember that when you’re talking in front of a large group of people, half the people probably aren’t even listening and the other half are paying attention to the stuff you’re saying, not you. I am so blessed to have some pretty amazing friends that know about my anxiety and were always willing to help. It’s really important in the beginning to have something or someone that helps you calm down because sometimes when you are panicky, it’s hard to think straight, so having a homie there to help you realize that whatever it is you’re worried about isn’t the end of the world is really helpful. Now, I’m not a doctor or mental health professional, these are just things that have worked for me. If you are really struggling with something like this I highly suggest you tell a professional. Even If you don’t have anxiety, these methods work for when you’re just nervous. If you are feeling like you just can’t overcome whatever it is you may be experiencing, just remember that Heavenly Father never gives us anything we can’t handle. |
My name is Ellie. I am a sophomore at BYU Idaho. I am excited to live life and to share a small piece of it with you!
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