The Power of Sharing My Story | Nathan Smith on Living with Anxiety & Depression

The Power of Sharing My Story

How to overcome anxiety naturally?

Natural anxiety relief includes deep breathing exercises, regular physical activity, mindfulness meditation, adequate sleep (7-9 hours), limiting caffeine, and maintaining social connections. These techniques activate your body's relaxation response.

By Nathan Smith

www.mybrainsnotbroken.com

When I started writing about my mental health, I'll be honest - I didn't know what to say. At the time, I'd been living with anxiety and depression for years. I'd found a few things that worked for me, but many more that hadn't.

Oftentimes it felt like one step forward, two steps back. Looking back, there were certainly other factors at the time. I was in my early 20s, a recent college graduate, and not sure what to do with my life. But I didn't see how that factored into things like my mental health.

What I do remember is being told to cherish this time in my life, to enjoy being young, to enjoy not having that many responsibilities.

And all I could feel was guilt because, despite my best efforts, I was not doing that.

I was living my life day to day, doing the best I could to make it from one moment to the next. I was surviving. And during that time, and in those moments - especially the hardest moments - that was enough. 

Eventually, though, I wanted to take the next step. The only problem? I didn't really know what that step was. 

I didn't have a direction to take. I'd learned more about mental health, and about myself, over the years, but I didn't know how to share it. And that's when I landed on finding a platform best suited to me - writing.

There are very few things I love more to do in the world than write. I had a natural talent as a kid, and my dream when I was young was to become a sports reporter, or write a book.

I've always believed in the power of writing, and the power of words.

So when it came to how I wanted to share my experience, I knew that writing would be the way.

There are many ways to share your story through writing.

At the time, though, I ended up realizing that a blog would be the best way.

It was a way to share my feelings, write about what was on my mind, and develop my own voice in the mental health space.

It was something I got excited about working on, and at that time in my life, that was extremely rare.

In the eight years since I started my blog, I have seen it grow and change in ways I could have never imagined.

But that does not compare to what the blog has taught me about mental health, and about myself.

I often say I live with anxiety and depression because, to me, it's the most accurate way to depict my situation.

I'm not always anxious; I'm not always depressed.

But it is a part of my life; sometimes it's a bigger part of my life than I'd like, but I have learned to accept that.

I went from trying to 'cure' myself of anxiety and depression to realizing that it's part of me; part of my experience.

I often think about what I'd say to the younger version of me, the one who was stuck in the endless cycle of anxiety and depression.

One thing I'd want to share is the value and importance of expressing yourself.

When it comes to dealing with mental health challenges, nothing has helped me more than learning how to feel my feelings.

Everyone needs to express themselves and get their feelings out.

But for people who experience mental health challenges, the impacts can be massive.

The other point I'd want to make is that however you do it, in whatever way you do it, get started with something.

Find a way (that is healthy and safe, I should add!) to express yourself.

I've never been able to rely on motivation, on doing something when I 'felt like it' (thank you, depression).

So instead, I would just do things, try my best to be present, and learn from what I've done.

I wouldn't say the method is foolproof, but it's allowed me to build an approach to mental health that I'm proud of.

This might not be surprising, but as a writer, I love quotes.

Every post on my blog ends with a quote that I either find interesting, or particularly apt for the post.

So I thought it might be fitting to end this post with a quote I've often leaned on.

This comes from

~Winnie the Pooh, written by A.A. Milne: "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." You are enough. You have always been enough. And you will always be enough. And the more we tell each other that, the better off we are.