Making Necessary Changes
Panic attacks taught me many things but the most important was that they changed my life. And I should admit that the change was for good. Here are the 3 major things that I changed because of the panic attacks that actually helped my overall health and well being:
My eating habits
I’m one of those people with a crazy metabolism that allows me to eat anything without gaining weight. And that’s what I did all my life. Until the panic attacks happened. I realized that I have to pay attention to me – and that meant not only my emotions but also my body and health. For years I was actually against healthy eating and never understood how so many people can be so fond of it. But when you are emotionally unstable and you are shaking from the smallest things around you, you kind of learn that you need energy. I realized that my body needs energy and the food that I put in it doesn’t support me enough. I started to have 5 meals a day. But my greatest accomplishment was that I started to have breakfast. I never did before; I preferred to have a cup of coffee instead of eating something. Now it has been a year and I have never missed a breakfast.
I created a sleep regime
In my 20s I enjoyed my evenings and did almost all important things through the night. I just get distracted through the day and the night was my favorite time. But no more. Just like eating healthy food, I started to create stable sleeping habits. And this is really simple but effective. I try to go to sleep at a reasonable hour every night and ensure at least 7-8 hours of night sleep. I always ventilate the room right before going to sleep just to be sure that I have enough fresh air. I started to drink herbal teas at night. I discovered that many herbs help anxiety — chamomile, thyme and common balm have great influence and actually help me to sleep well.
Meditation and relaxation
Through the whole process of dealing with my anxiety and panic attacks I’ve tried many things and of course meditation. It happened that this actually helped a lot. And you don’t have to be some kind of guru or throw yourself in some new religion or anything. For me meditation is a simple process when you are leaving 20-30 minutes just for yourself. I learned how to do that – not every day but every now and then. Whenever I feel the inner feeling that I have to be alone, I find a quiet place sit down and try to release all the thoughts and tensions that I’ve gathered through the day or the last weeks. I have tried meditation with guidance, but for me personally, this didn’t work. I simply sit down at the floor in the most comfortable position, my back straight and my eyes closed. The next thing is to try to release all the thoughts and it’s certainly not easy but not impossible too. I try to focus on my breathing and slowly leave the thoughts to drift away and imagine myself in a quiet, peaceful place. Doing this on a regular basis provided me with the relaxation that I needed.
Conclusion
These were the 3 things my panic attacks changed in my life. As all of these things are actually improvements and help you live a healthier life. You might say that the panic attacks and disorder are actually a positive thing that can happen to you. The hard part is to accept that this is happening to you and try to pay more attention to you. Trust me, 5 years ago I would laugh at anyone who tells me that I will be eating healthy food, doing meditation and having any kind of regime. And maybe that is why I had all this happening around me – to learn that you have to try to be balanced.
