Hello everybody nice to see you again or nice to meet you my name is Becca and I am generally Just a confused person on the internet that doesn't have a clue what's going on really to be honest Those of you who know me will already know this but for those of you who are new I am not a licensed Anything really Anything I mention or say is done by research that means it is open to interpretation or open to being discussed And I'm also willing to learn and would love to know your opinion on everything I say in this video I suffer from anxiety and OCD myself along with a few other things and I just like to understand a bit about what's going on Up here. So if you're just as confused about life and Generally want to listen to somebody waffle who is also confused about life stick around like subscribe Comment it's a really friendly community and we welcome absolutely everybody. So yeah Let's get on with the video. I have lived with anxiety for as long as I can remember I don't know a point in my life when I was ever not anxious in living memory I have always been an anxious person and one question I ask myself time and time again is will anxiety ever go away? I'm sure if you're like me or if you're new to anxiety you ask yourself the same question It's a stressful journey you're constantly on a alert and you don't know what to expect from your own mind sometimes I've toyed with this question for a long long time and I've never particularly come up with an answer So instead I started asking myself other questions questions I have probably taken for granted since I've lived with anxiety for my entire life questions like what even is anxiety According to the UK charity mind anxiety is what we feel when we are worried tense or afraid Particularly about things that are about to happen or which we think could happen in the future anxiety is normal It's a normal human reaction that we have evolved to feel funny enough It actually keeps us safe, which I know some of you is probably like well I beg to differ because my anxiety makes me feel like I'm having a heart attack Not that I can don't heart attack jokes. Why do I you guys know I don't mean it? Okay? Anxiety is evolved to keep us safe oddly enough. It is our kind of fight or flight or freeze Tactic that we have evolved to deal with and it can be very helpful But why is it that some of us experience anxiety when there's no real rational reason and why do some of us struggle more than others? Like I said everybody experience anxiety but anxiety disorders are a bit different Anxiety starts to become a problem when the feeling lasts a prolonged period of time or our reactions are somewhat irrational or Taken out of proportion to the situation around us when this happens Especially if it starts to happen in adulthood or when you're a teenager you feel very much as though you're not in control of your Enemotions I personally live with anxiety like I've said for my entire life But even now I definitely take things out of proportion. I worry unnecessarily And it's stressful and it can be frightening. It doesn't matter how many times you have a panic attack or anxiety attack They're still scary every single time and if you're going through it You should give yourself some credit because it's not easy Sometimes people deal with external factors in their lives and they're not easy either you can't compare them But fighting against your own mind is scary and frightening and sometimes you don't know what to do I think we live in a world where anxiety and Depression and OCD and other mental health disorders are talked about really casually and those of us that actually Experience them and actually go through them on a day-to-day basis. We sort of no longer feel heard a little bit because Everyone seems to have anxiety. My grandma's ringing me Hang on a tick. I think it's really important to keep the language of Mental health protected a little bit. So when somebody says they're feeling anxious They mean they're feeling anxious. It doesn't mean they have anxiety It's very confusing and there is a lot of language around mental health But I think it's important to educate ourselves and know what it actually means and when somebody is actually asking for help Or when someone is just feeling nervous or stressed because like I said toward the beginning of this video Stress and anxiety and normal human reactions to things if you've got a Interview with a job you really want and you're feeling anxious. That's normal Yeah, it might not feel nice. It definitely doesn't feel nice But it's normal and it's your body's way of preparing yourself for a big event I've been waffling a lot and I've also scattered around the question of will anxiety ever go away But another question that comes up time and time again when I get in a bit of a wrap and ask this question to myself Is do I want it to anxiety has become part of my identity? OCD has been part of my life for as long as I can remember It has flare ups and it gets worse But who would I be without it actually anxiety depression OCD Have made me more empathetic have made me more sympathetic. Yeah, they sometimes make me have a short temper And they sometimes make me react to things that other people don't understand But then when other people reacting away that I might not understand I can sympathize a bit more I think if we each look our own struggles and our own mental health difficulty We should actually look at the benefits that they give us to and I say that really tentatively So please bear with me. I'm not saying we have to just completely accept the negative emotions we feel from anxiety I personally recently started medication. I say recently it's been about 6 months I think and I feel much better for it. There's a lot of stigma around medication And I personally was one of those people I never wanted to take it But I finally got to the end of my tether and I decided now was the right time And I'm really glad that I did there comes a point where we shouldn't just accept it There should come a point where we do say Will anxiety ever go away and mean it and what can I do about it But we can also sit and think what it's made us and who it's turned us into some of it Isn't good some of it means we have short tempers and we get nervous over things that other people don't understand We find it hard to translate our feelings and we find it difficult to Generally stay on top of how we're feeling But if it's made us more empathetic more understanding patient And generally maybe a bit nicer then surely somewhere along the line anxiety is a good thing I'm not sure the kind of person I'd be without anxiety when I was younger and probably more recently than I care to admit I think anxiety was used as an excuse for me I think I was using it as a way to behave in a certain way I've definitely used PTSD and things like that as I've explained in previous videos To excuse my actions and that's not right either I don't want anxiety to be an excuse I want it to be a motivator and a way for me to better myself and find coping mechanisms for myself I want it to be something that means I can have conversations with people I might not otherwise have conversations with you guys in the comments show me time and time again That we all experience different things and I love doing that and without anxiety. I'd never have had that opportunity So there are plenty of things that I am grateful for when it comes to anxiety Will anxiety ever go away? No, probably not But I'm happy in the fact that actually it's formed me as a person It has made me more resilient and more kind and generally more understanding But it's taken a long time to get to this point I haven't always felt like this in fact It's probably only been the last year when I've actually start to twist it around a little bit and decide Anxiety could possibly be a good thing again, though. I am not by any means a professional of anything In fact, I should probably be trained in something at some point So if you are struggling Reach out to somebody. I will pop some links down below that might help you most of them will probably be in the UK But if you're in the US, maybe you could send a few links in the comments that would help other people too It's taken me years to say I'm grateful for my anxiety I also don't get on with it every day But instead of pushing it aside and pretending it doesn't exist I now hold its hand and go what do you need today? And that takes practice. So look after yourself We're not always going to get it right We're not always going to, you know Understand our own minds Even though we live with ourselves every day We're probably the biggest strangers to ourselves too So getting to know yourself a little bit and know what anxiety actually gives you Is possibly a good thing. I have whuffled on So long and I've also been gradually getting closer and closer to the screen. I feel like so very sorry about that one You don't need to see my face that close. I hope you're all okay. Look after yourselves. Please we only get one life I'm out of breath from running downstairs I should probably do some sort of exercise Somewhere along the line. But look after yourselves. Thank you so much for coming back or thank you so much for coming And being new it's lovely to meet you do like and subscribe if you want to know pressure This is a pressure for your zone as I always say and I hope you have a lovely day evening morning night All of the above and I will see you in the next one lots of love to you all see you very soon You