In this episode, Lucy is joined by Micheál who found himself struggling with physical symptoms of anxiety when he left university. Having no idea what was happening, he was understandably quite concerned by the light headedness and chest pains which resulted in trips to the doctor and even the hospital – to be told it was ‘just anxiety’. 

Micheál fell into an anxious thinking pattern – worrying that he would feel anxious, hyperawareness of his bodily sensations, and catastrophising the outcome, which fuelled panic attacks. 

So, what did he do to overcome it? 

1. Understand it – realise these anxious symptoms weren’t happening ‘to’ him – they were being created by the way he was thinking
2. Start responding differently – changing his self-talk to “this is unpleasant uncomfortable, I’d rather not feel this way, but it’s not dangerous, I can handle this”
3. This allowed him to start getting himself through these anxious moments without panicking and running away 
4. And then he would process it well, so he gained confidence in his abilities and was able to keep progressing 

If you’re struggling with this at the moment, we’re here for you. Been there, felt it, and come out the other side, so feel free to reach out for some guidance and support.