Practise it every day, say for two sessions of 15 minutes each.

ABOUT RELAXATION I do relaxation, I use a CD that the therapist gave me, it has a guided visualisation on it. He, or she, points a stern finger at Anxiety. It may mean achieving peace of mind through a connection with a spiritual force, through a religious faith or philosophy, or working to make a difference in the world through political or social action. This may involve developing an unused talent or skill - boredom from unused potential can be a breeding ground for Anxiety. In this case the idea of camping on a site in Spain with plenty of activities suited everybody and from that point it was easy to Choose and Implement the best solution. By now you should have in place the following: relaxation every day exercise regularly, aiming for three times a week building to 20 minutes changes to diet where needed changes in caffeine consumption if needed changes to alcohol, nicotine and other drug consumption if needed a programme for better sleep if needed a programme to give more time for self if needed a programme for more challenges if needed. They said it was my fault. Typical thoughts are: Ill panic and make a fool of myself. Ill be the only one in the class to fail the exam. If I dont get this job I wont get another chance. Catastrophising As you would expect, this means seeing a catastrophe around every corner. You just have to get active. Perhaps when you are at work you are organised and efficient, while at home you are relaxed and caring. It was difficult to put my feelings into words and that sent my anxiety up. Focus on the word relax. The mints were the last to go as I used to get a very dry mouth (I had sugar-free mints so that I didnt get a sugar rush). My main coping skills are relaxation, and meditation, which stops the internal chatter. My coping skills are: controlling my breathing, regular exercise, music (I put on headphones and block out anxious thoughts), making myself socialize even when I feel I cant be bothered and asking for support from friends. My main coping skill was using my bike - you can always escape and come back quicker. After reading this section you should understand how to do exposure work to change your Anxiety driven behaviour in small, manageable steps. Instead you need to look for concrete, specific goals such as: I want to get back to work I want to have a relationship I want to travel abroad I want to go back to college. They feel the need to suck in great gulps of air, as if they cant get enough, and often feel unable to breathe out fully before taking the next breath in. It can make more sense to tell a few trusted people so that they can share the helping tasks. I am a critic, I laugh at myself. Look at a spider in a sealed jar. If you feel that youre only just coping with life as it is, youre bound to want things to stay the same, just in case you cant cope with anything new. It is much more realistic to expect setbacks and plan for them, rather than assume that your recovery is going to go without a hitch or two along the way.