Anxiety Won’t Be Ruling My Life Anymore

Not many people would know or realise this about me, as everyone always says I’m so chatty and confident but I’ve suffered from anxiety for years.

I’ve always been “a worrier” and most of the time I’ve found ways to manage it or hold it back for a few months.

Unfortunately in this past year it has come back with a vengeance.

I don’t know why and I’ve spent hours and hours trying to work out why.

I developed a horrendous fear of being left on my own at nighttime with my baby daughter.

My husband works shifts and is often not home at night.

It has been totally crippling and at times I’ve been terrified of my own mind.

I’ve spent whole nights wide awake having almost constant panic attacks, shaking and crying.

I felt sick to my stomach, I felt so terrified and anxious that I couldn’t even lie down in bed and close my eyes.

I’ve put myself and my family to hell and back.

My husband and my parents have been so worried about me, and despite their unconditional support I just couldn’t seem to pull myself out of it.

I felt like I was letting everyone down.

I went to see my doctor who prescribed me some tablets to take when I needed something to help me calm down.

I felt totally disheartened that it had come to this.

I don’t judge anyone who takes medication to help their mental health issues but I personally did not want to take this route when I knew all my anxiety was created by my own mind.

One day I was desperately searching amazon and buying any anxiety book I thought might help when I came across Barry’s DARE book.

I’ve spent years trying to relax, and breathe, and imagine myself lying on a beach, thinking of puppies, listening to relaxation music, absolutely anything to try and forget my anxiety and stay calm so this DARE approach was a totally new concept for me and actually at first it didn’t click.

I laughed when I read about the idea of running towards my anxiety but at the same time the technique intrigued me and I was inspired by the fact that Barry himself had suffered from anxiety.

Turns out that the step I thought was the silliest turned out to be the one that worked for me.

I stuck with it; reading, practicing (especially when I wasn’t feeling anxious) and suddenly something clicked.

I’m no longer scared of anxiety, I don’t fear it, I’m not running away, in fact I’m running towards it and embracing it.

It sounds crazy but it really works!

I feel free from the pressure of trying to imagine that I’m not experiencing anxiety.

If it’s there, it’s there and I’M NOT SCARED!

I say bring it on!!

I wouldn’t say I’m anxiety free and I wouldn’t say I’m completely recovered but I’ve taken a MASSIVE step in the right direction.

It doesn’t come easy and it takes hard work but suffering from anxiety is hard work anyway!

You just have to decide which hard to choose!

I have now realised that most of my anxiety came simply from fearing a panic attack.

Fearing those horrible physical feelings.

Barry’s Ride the Wave audio has really helped me to get my head around this and I love challenging my anxiety to do its worst in 21 seconds.

It never accepts the challenge! 🙂

I can confidently say that anxiety won’t be ruling my life anymore.

I have recently been back to see my doctor and I took the DARE book with me to show him.

He was genuinely interested and made a note of the title.

He said he will definitely be ‘prescribing’ it to his other patients.

I hope that he does because everyone should be free of this!

I will keep practicing and doing my steps so that I can have a complete recovery soon.

Hope you will too!

Here is a picture of my beautiful daughter enjoying life because I can now Dare my way to wonderful places.

Hannah

11 replies on “Anxiety Won’t Be Ruling My Life Anymore“

  • Alberta

    That’s nice but we are far from you do we are not enjoying this privilege.Am also suffering from anxiety which I got it from my panic attack but I don’t see any doctor and I have stopped taking drugs but I still want to over come it

  • steven reissner

    hi, i think taking medication to get through the worst anxiety can do is perfectly legitimate. you also want to practice with it, so you can be sure of how it affects you at first it may make you tired, most probably, but i found it lasts for several hours and after the tiredness went – i was relaxed and could do what was needed. also i bought and read the new DARE book including the funny pictures. but some one to one therapy mainly with cognitive behavoir training can be most useful. at night however, it would be nice if you could ring someone as i found being able to speak to a therapist or realtive who knew about the condition was most helpful – along with some medication when needed. standard treatment is sessions with a therapist specialising in anxiety , an antidepressant plus medication such as xanax on an if – need – be -basis.

  • Norma

    I now when a panic attack is lurking ,it happens I am woken from sleep either very cold or extremlyh hot ani feel dry shaky also it seems to set of my toilet habits.
    I have your dare book and it really helped I came off medication but maybe it was too soon,
    I will get the audio version as soon as I can afford it

    I wish the best possible outcome to everyone who suffers from this trust a array he will show you the way.
    Amron.

  • Angela thapa

    I do have anxiety since I was 10years,I feel always scared of dark ,staying alone ,suffering almost 20years I was totally dishearten ,I always pray to god “oh god please help me out of this feelings”really if you pray from your heart you will find the solution so I found the video of Barry who is also suffering from anxiety and the symtoms is same as I have , I saw in one video that berry advice when the panic attack comes to you just accept and embrace it ,really it works now I m recovering day by day ,i would like to thank you my god who always guiding me and my second god is Barry ,who save my life …mr Barry god gives more blessing ,wealth and prosperity ….thank you everyone who is sharing such a inspiration video and story …god bless ….

  • Naomi

    Thank you for sharing your story!
    I too suffer horrible anxiety at night stemming from having a stress heart attack two years ago after my mom died. Due to a family emergency I have been living alone and this adds to my nightly panic attacks. I have began using the Dare techniques and am very hopeful it will put an end to my anxiety!

  • Ian

    Thanks for that my anxiety came out of the blue, never been someone who takes Medication I tried to deal with it on my own that backfired had mental health Crisis team out to me,found it incrediblely difficult to understand what was happeneing to me felt on my own even with family support I eventually went to my GP who prescribed Medications thanks for Diazepam I found the Dare Book on line what a brilliant discovery each time the Black cloud enveloped me I put my headphones and listened at first I questioned words and what I was supposed to do after what seemed like an eternity I started to be able to deal with some of the horrors.still have a few lapses but I am dealing with them.

  • Shira

    I’ve suffered from anxiety for years only it manifested in different ways. It first started when my kids were babies and I couldn’t sleep at night due to massive panic attacks. Eventually a psychiatrist prescribed anti depressants and sleep aids. It helped me get through nights by masking the core issues with relief to do my best during the day.
    This year I went through a lot of abuse at work, husband had breakdown and couldn’t work and then recently an accident. The anxiety at work was so bad that I felt no choice but to quit. Now that I need a job more than ever, my anxiety is through the roof and preventing me from keeping a job. I’m in the process of reading DARE and practicing and praying that this is the answer. There are moments that it makes sense and others that the anxiety takes over. At this point I have no choice but to stick with it so I’ll keep you updated.

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