Useful phrases to say to someone experiencing anxiety

This morning I posted about the anxiety I was experiencing to my Instagram stories. The anxiety started as a very simple thought - "I don't want to be here" - and quickly spiralled into something quite crippling that had me lying on the grass outside of my flat just focusing on the sky and the trees.

I want to write more about the above at some stage when I feel a little stronger. The number of people experiencing the same trail of thought of not knowing where they want to be was startling.

But for now I just want to share some of the responses that I had landing in my DMs and over Whatsapp that helped me tonnes. Tiny little nuggets of wisdom, and metaphorical twists of words that comforted me so so so much.

Its like trying to complete the same puzzle over and over, but being 100% honest with ourselves we know we don’t have all the pieces.

“The hard thing is to remember there are only ever 7 questions in life; who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
We just go through the list until we can work out something different to add to our ruminating.
The sense of place for you compared to last week or so must be a big change.
Emotions come all at once, and like 7 people all trying to get through a door all at once, it doesn’t work. Our brains have a hissy fit.
It’s tough Jess, but try and find a way to let the emotion pass, then we are calm we can go back and pick things apart, and just like the 7 people , let them through one by one”

It's ok to be scared... It means you're about to do something really brave

We are with you every step of the way

You are strong. And you are brave for sharing how you feel.

This will pass. I sometimes feel the same.

Make your tasks small and prioritise only what you need to get done today

Fancy getting a non-caffeine drink? I'm free if you need a friendly face