Fear

Everyone is afraid of something, and if you say you aren't you are kidding yourself. Because we, as humans, are born with fear. We need it to survive otherwise all those thousands of years ago, all of our ancestors would have been eaten by tigers or something.. Sure over time we develop new ones and may learn how to overcome it, but the fear response is always there. So, I'll give you three of the bigger ones and how it can sometimes trigger anxiety. 

-Deep water, especially when you can't see or reach the bottom. This fear stems from a couple of bad experiences in water. It got to a point where I would think of any excuse I could to not go in a swimming pool. Luckily now I can at least walk in up to my waist without panicking. 

-Crowds, I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I hate going into town when it's busy. Sometimes I don't really have a choice if I'm passing through or meeting someone. But in terms of shopping I avoid going in after lunchtime. 

-Small spaces, I regularly dream of being trapped in tiny spaces (I'll do a dream blog post soon I think). The fear of not being able to move or getting stuck somewhere is a massive fear for me. 

I think looking at these its a general fear of feeling or being trapped. Which says a lot about my anxiety and triggers as these ones are usually the ones to cause me the most panic.

Overcoming fear is difficult, it takes hard work, small steps and a lot of support. For example I didn't just jump in a pool again to make me feel safe in water, I started at the shallow end and worked my way through. Is it scary? Sure, but with the right support from friends and family it can help you significantly more than going it alone. 

xx