How do I apply the steps to my anxiety?
 

I have had horrible anxiety / panic attacks lately, and I have restarted the steps with a new sponsor. I am starting step 2 with him.

Have people experienced their anxiety to lessen as they go along with the steps?

For me, it seems that I am lacking the willingness to turn over stuff to my higher power, and to trust HP in everything. I still have the feeling of: "it's all going to go bad" attitude when I plan something...

I feel stuck in this spot, and I sometimes get out of it, but I am usually back where I was... I am not happy, joyous, or free. I know if I were to let it go, I would be more happy... Turn the results over, but my anxiety kicks in, and I am back where I was.

How have people applied the steps to their anxiety / panic attacks?

It's a vicious circle that I am having a horrible time breaking.

Hi there!

I know exactly how you feel. I had huge problems with that "feeling of impending doom". Everytime I planned something, or something good happened, I was waiting for it to come crashing down.

For me it took 11 months before I could self talk my way around it . I found that alking to my Sponser, and AA friends about it helped, often they could see past it , where I couldnt
prayer also helped , tho like you , I had , and still do sometimes, great difficulty 'handing over " and keeping my grubby little fingers OFF! LOL
For me, it was , practise , practise , practise , and persistence .
I know you have probably heard it before , but it WILL pass, just nurture yourself, do the next right thing, take a deep breath, and be kind to you .

HUGX
Leigh

Hey, Wreck. Welcome to SR.

I've never been in AA or any other recovery program but when I quit drinking my anxiety got worse before it got better. I started seeing a therapist recently and that has helped my anxiety, and as my anxiety levels decrease so do my cravings for alcohol. That's just me, though. I don't think it's the same for everyone.

Hopefully someone who's gone through the steps will chime in here soon.

EDIT-Justme57 beat me to it. Told you someone would be here soon.

Hi Wreck,

Welcome to the board. I´m sorry you´re having a bad time right now, but it´s a good idea to use the steps to deal with anxiety.

The way I have done it is to simply change the word "alchohol" and replace it with "anxiety".

"1. We admitted we were powerless over anxiety—that our lives had become unmanageable.

We do that regularly in other groups for addiction for debt, relationship addiction and the like.

I am actually having a bad case of anxiety at the moment, but reading the steps and working them usually calms me. What I find most challenging is to "turn it over". That means for me that we´re powerless over the outcome of something and should leave it with the Higher Power.

When I´m stressful over something, I work and prepare as I can and then I leave it "with the gods". When I know I have done my best, I can usually leave it out there. But it was neither simple nor easy for me to learn it.

Give it time. Use the power of your group as your Higher Power, for instance, your wise self, whatever. Try to write a problem down on paper and put it away, thinking you will leave it to you HP, whatever that is. After a while solutions will come to you.

It´s called "the magic of letting go."

I´ve been able to give tons of stuff up with using it, frome Coke to sugar and booze to cigarettes.

Talk to your sponsor and ask him about what he thinks. Let us know and in the meantime, be well.

Love and light,

Hi Lyla,
Youy just reminded me of something I used to do.

my sponsers idea.
I had a "God Box" and I used to write stuff i was worried about on a piece of paper , and stick it in the box! it worked , sybolic tho it was. I eventually did not need it any more, but I read some of the things much later, and had a chuckle

HUGX
Leigh

Anxiety
 

Hi Wreckcovery,

Nice name! It is a good idea to use the Steps and insert the word Anxiety. I also had huge anxiety attacks..at the store it was so embarassing. I began to say the Serenity Prayer and applied it to what my anxiety seemed focused on. Sometimes I really didn't know what caused my anxiety though. :c004:

I also had therapy and finally had to take medication to help. But now I have almost completely stopped the medication and am doing much better. :Dance7:

It was scary to me when it would happen when I was away from home. Sometimes I would have to sit in the car and wait until I calmed myself down before I could trust my driving.

kelsh

Hi Kelsh,

It´s great to know that you overcame your anxiety. It gives us hope.

Justme, I use the "god box" all the time. I also use it if I want something which is of importance, but don´t know how to get it. I write down the question, ask the Highter Power to give me an answer and put it away in the "god box". It always works. I believe it´s the subconsious working and if you give it room to work, it delivers. :)

Wreck, when you have worked on step 2, don´t forget to check out step 3 and 4 and apply them to anxiety.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

I think anxiety is in some way about control. It´s about wanting to control the future, which we cannot really do and the anxiety comes from that. We can only control what we do in the here and now. The first three steps are about giving up self will that has turned destructive and turning it over to the Higher Power.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Love and light,

Thank you to everyone... Oddly enough, I was having anxiety when I started to read the responses.

For me, my anxiety and the panic attacks about a month or 2 after I quit smoking... Although that could be a coincidence. Who knows?

I am trying to walk through the fear versus running away, but it's so difficult at times. My experience has taught me that anticipation is worse than the event. Also, there may be nothing going on at the event, just what's in my mind. I need to remember these things as I go to a meeting for work, and know that I am fearing the unknown.

I am very happy to have found this website. thank you all for the support and experience.

Wreckovery.

How about writing down possible outcomes of a given situtation?

I used to do it a lot to clarify my mind and it made me rationalize the problems and understand that there was nothing that could go really wrong.

Normally I would take worst case scenarios and ways to deal with them, but also the best case scenarios.

Try it! You will probably see that your anxiety is making you imagine irrational outcomes.

Love and light,

I've actually thought of starting to smake again. 6 months off.