Finally got over Anxiety and Depression ( read how i did it )

[Nikos23]

Hello. I nikos i m 23 years old and i been to this forum to find some help to anxiety and depression. My english is bad but i ll try to explain how did i overcome anxiety and depression in less than 1 month. I had Social anxiety from the age of 18-23 With Huge Depression as well. I tried everything i tried to think positive i tried to say " life is small " and stuff and it didnt work. I been to a new city called Athens to my girl. Its a huge city that you see ppl all over walking and not even paying attention to you. I spent time with my girl and i was happy during that but when i got back to the house i was trying to think negative stuff with no reason. I had great time but still i was stressed for no reason and insecure. That shows that my mind got used to the stupid negative thoughts so even after an amazing day i try to return to the misery spot. Anyway after 2-3 days of anxiety i said to my self. " **** It i will be happy i wont act like i m giving exams to everything i do " . I did it i been out with my ipod with the music that i enjoy when i listen to and i didnt care if i will sweat or not. I been out from 12 morning to 12 night for 11 days in a row. At the moment my heart beat is so slow so calm and i feel really confident. I got used to the ppl that i see for example to the metro. I can talk to an uknown girl on the street asking her about a store or something and still continue to talk to her without getting anxious. Im 23 and for the first time of my life between 18-23 i feel that i m getting back to life. I m getting over depression and anxiety without pills. I no longer use clonopin and i got a happy mood. My advice to all the ppl with problems like mine is STICK to it for 1 month get out everyday for lots of hours and return home tired and get to sleep without thinking. talk to strangers with small steps smile and you will get there as i did. I hope i helped. What i also did when i was anxious or sad is a really "Weird" thing but it worked for me. I always regret about time passing by and stuff. So i got a small plan for me when i feel sad or bored. I imagine my self waking up 80 years old and saying inside my head " I Would give anything to return to 23 and i wouldnt care about stupid anxiety " and then i get a happy mood fast. Also a tip for anxiety attack with breathing is this that helped me too. When you feel suddenly panic and getting anxious do this

STAND UP AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH FROM YOUR NOSE. FEEL YOUR BELLY EXPANDING MORE THAN YOUR CHEST. KEEP YOUR BREATH FOR 10 seconds and for 10 seconds SQUEEZE every muscle on your body and your face . Squeeze it hard ( not soooo hard ) for 10 seconds and exhale slowly from your mouth. Do 2-3 breaths of that and you will feel your panic go away it will help 100%.

I hope i helped.

ALso forgot to say that stop Caring for small stuff. Nobody notices it. Stop comparing to other ppl. i used to do it its so stupid. I wont change i wont be brad pitt lol so its so stupid to do it. Anyone got some question its cool to ask me here or Private. Ty.

I m 23 and its the first time in my life that i feel confident and happy.


ALSO forgot to say what is the worst thing for anxiety and depression at least for me. its 100% true that even if a non anxious person with no depression stays in the house for hours He will think negative and he will feel sad. DONT stay alone . Lonelyness "killed" me more than anything. Get someone a roomate anyone. Try not to be alone as much as possible. Try to talk to ppl to the phone anywhere. Do some activities like trying to get a job so you return to your home tired and with a feeling that " i did something today " and get sleep. I Found a job to Athens and i will leave my place in less than 1 month. Nobody can believe that i m doing those steps. Me that i couldnt go out to take a soda from anxiety and shyness found my self a job and i mc onfident about anything. Trust me my friends if i did it you will too Just do what i ve done. Set a Goal , talk to ppl a little bit more everyday for anything and go out a lot. Not just 1 hour. Go out like i did . I went to the metro station the first times and i was the only one sweating like crazy. Now i go there and i dont even think about it. GET OUT. And something to end my huge thread hah. DO NOT read so much to the internet. This site helped ppl but made ppl worse too. Cause even a person with no depression gets to read stories like " i wanna suicide " he will get sad you will get too. Try not to read so much. Read the possitive. Thank you

 

[gustavofring]

Hey Nikos, good to hear you got over it.
Inspiring story!

You're absolutely right about that loneliness worsens the depression. Sadly, for most of us, we're so hurt or tired of people that we just can't bring ourselves to get with others. I guess it's a matter of finding the right people..

 

[Icepep]

Really glad you got over your anxiety and depression . Hope more people manages the same.

 

[Nikos23]

well i m really a hard case my self. I m not like 1-2 months in depression i had depression FULL depression 3 years in a row. So if i did it anyone can do it. The thing is to get up from the chair and start doing it. The proccess will take less than 2 months cause you will get excited about the change of your mood like i did. The hard thing that i regret not doing it earlier is to get up and make a start. For example i tried before 1-2 years to go out and try to get over it. But then i got anxious 2-3 nights in a row and i said " **** it i ll be like this for ever i cant change " . Guess what i did that now as well cause my mind cant get used of the new mood that easy its like " searching " for sadness between my happyness at the moment. But i continued for the first time of my life to go out and trying to be positive for 3-4 weeks and i wont let that go right now. I wont have a set back to my old style. So DO it ppl trust me on this. I tried pills and **** and nothing came up. If your anxious to make a start. Take a small amount of Klonopin for 20-25 days but go out from the morning to the night everyday. And try to talk to ppl about anything about a shop about a street that you searching even if your not searching act like you dont know something and you need some help and ask ppl smile and trust me you ll say good bye to the stupid ass depression very soon


THE MOST IMPORTANT THING at least for me is the mood. If you got something to your head that you worry that it will make you anxious like for example Getting out with a girl. I used to say to my self " i ll act strong ill be confident i wont get anxious " and guess what? i been anxious as hell. I found out that the only thing to stop the anxious annoying thoughts is the mood. When someone is happy he dont care about thoughts he just wants to stay happy with a girl for example for a cofee. GO with a good mood. Say to yourself " why not? i ll see a girl i ll have a good time i dont care if i m shy " it will be the best you can do.

 

[Raichel]

deleted...

 

[LazyHermitCrab]

Thanks for posting the video!

 

[Nikos23]

Is that you in your avatar? !@#$, I can only dream of having such a pretty face. That alone would probably solve my SA.

Hey yes its me and thank you heh. the thing is that when you feel anxious or depressed you see yourself as the most ugly. I did it too i wasnt confident. Thanks a lot


Lazyhermit that video helps a lot. Most ppl try breathing for 4-5 minutes but it didnt work for me. This thing works if you do it correctly. it relaxes you a lot

 

[Bustn Justin]

Congrats for getting over your anxiety and depression.

 

[TheTemp]

This guy is awesome, he knows what he's talking about. Exposure is the best way of overcoming anxiety.

Nikos: My MSN stopped working, would love to continue chatting with you somehow!

 

[findingbeauty]

Thanks, Nikos! I honestly thought I was going to run across a sales pitch when I first saw the post. Thanks for your generosity in sharing your story and practical tips. Please keep us posted on your progress! Good luck with your new success!

 

[Nikos23]

THANKS everyone. I know the feeling thats why i want to help as much as possible ppl so they wont "suffer" 4-5 years like i did. You can throw this anxiety thing so fast if you act like i did. The temp! yes sure.

atm i dont have my facebook active but if you dont have skype or msn and you got facebook just write me your Link profile page to a message or something and i ll add you.

 

[1BlackSheep]

Congratulations Nikos! I'm happy for you!

 

[Raichel]

deleted...

 

[CursedSoul]

Gotcha...!

Its a part of natural pride; I can spot spammers and their helping spammer friends from just their font preferences....

 

[Nikos23]

You're so right! I've been spending way too much time alone in my room, doing nothing but browsing the internet all day. While it can be relieving to see other people struggling with SA as well, some of the stories here on SPW really scare me. I don't want to still live at my parents house at 30 and not have a job, education... I don't mean to be offending, but those stories make me more depressed... I am sorry everyone. ::

When you say 'small steps', what exactly do you mean by that? Like, what were one of the very first things you did to fight social anxiety? Was it something like going to the store and buying stuff, or maybe doing sports? What was the beginning like when you started battling depression?

Its all about repeat and small steps yes! What i ve done is that i asked questions to a trip that i ve been. Sometimes i really needed help to learn where a street number is or where a store is or where a metro station is but i DID it everyday i asked random questions to Uknown ppl like " where is that? " . Some ppl with social anxiety got a problem to ask an uknown person a question about something but i dont have that cause i did it more than 50 times. Whats the worse that could happen? He wont answer you? So what? Even when i learned and i didnt need help i still pretend to dont know where is it cause i wanted to talk to someone to improve my social skills. I ask the question and i give them a smile like " i m lost man help me " and they r friendly to me. IF you keep any social skills repeating everyday you will forget about the anxiety. Talking to ppl everyday and goin out everyday will make social anxiety dissapear. You need small steps everyday. I ll describe you what feeling you get when you do small step. Ok for example if you dont make any steps and you stay in your house as i did you automatically thing " I m not normal like the others ". Especially when you go out and you get anxious or fear you feel that your not normal. Which is what i used to feel for years. But its totally wrong. Its just a proccess that can get sometime to "cure" but all THe deal is the start. Trust me on this. When you make small steps and you getting over fears little by little everyday you wont feel that " i m not normal " anymore. You will feel 10 times closer to Calm and normal. Cause you improved and fighting for it. Sorry for my english i really killed everyword hah.

 

[Nikos23]

Re: Gotcha...!

Its a part of natural pride; I can spot spammers and their helping spammer friends from just their font preferences....

I dont understand cause my english isnt so good. What did i Spam then? give me a hand if you got a problem.

 

[TheTemp]

Re: Gotcha...!

Its a part of natural pride; I can spot spammers and their helping spammer friends from just their font preferences....

He's not a spammer. Don't be so quick to underestimate people's successes. I believe in overcoming social anxiety. It can be done. Especially through exposure and putting yourself through "small situations" daily. It's the only way out. What's so far fetched about it?

 

[Nikos23]

i m like 2-3 months in this forum CursedSoul you can see my other threads or posts you wont see me talking like i do to this thread cause i was in a bad spot. I also remember posts from you to every Positive thread always trying to keep ppl down i dont understand why you do that. Ppl can overcome this anxiety.And if you got it too i hope you have success with it as well honestly. But Its not cancer . Exposure or falling in love "Cured" many of the ppl here. I dont care if you believe me or not really but you need to start to focus to what someone writes before you judge them and leave the negative attitude back. As i Said its anxiety and fears. You can fight fears its well known. The start is everything and i did a start a big one.

 

[hoddesdon]

Nikos23 mentions a lot of correct information in this thread:

. breathing through the stomach

. taking small steps

. exposure - not hiding at home or anywhere else

. do not compare yourself to others

. do not ruminate about things

. asking strangers questions - that is part of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

. maintaining discipline every day by keeping up the routine of breathing through the stomach, exposure, taking small steps and asking strangers questions. If you skip a day or two it makes it more difficult to start again.

 

[hoddesdon]

i m like 2-3 months in this forum CursedSoul you can see my other threads or posts you wont see me talking like i do to this thread cause i was in a bad spot. I also remember posts from you to every Positive thread always trying to keep ppl down i dont understand why you do that.

Unfortunately trying to keep people down, including yourself, is a symptom of social phobia. The feeling that improvement is impossible is another symptom. I expect that is why CursedSoul chose that username. I suppose that is why so few people ever seek treatment. This thread helps to counteract those symptoms. You are absolutely right that trying to keep people helps no-one, least of all CursedSoul.