Hey Everyone,

I've had anxiety since I was 14. I'm 39 now. I've pretty much had every symptom there is. I've gone through awful periods and great periods. Well, I'm back in a terrible period right now. It's frustrating because there have been so many times where I think I've licked anxiety for good. I guess not, though. I suppose I'll always be 'prone' to it. I need to do a better job of not letting it get to this point. I will say 1 thing about anxiety... every time it gets this bad I know that I need a change in my life, whether that's exercise, day to day habits, etc. I know there are things causing my anxiety that I need to take control of.

One of the best analogies I've heard about anxiety attacks is this -

The anxiety attack is the smoke alarm. You pay attention to the smoke alarm because it's loud and buzzes. But the smoke alarm is not the problem. You just think it is. The thing CAUSING the smoke alarm to go off, perhaps the burning toast in the toaster (e.g. lack of exercise, job stress, etc.) is the thing that needs to be addressed. Once that is addressed, the smoke alarm will turn off.

Well, as to what I've been feeling lately that has me panicky - my legs. They're shaky. And it's not just adrenaline. I think that my hips are weak. My hip flexors to be precise. But why? Well, my hypothesis is that I'm sitting, with bad posture, at work, totally stressed out. And I'm not exercising or stretching. So I'm just sitting in a terrible postured position, worrying all day. And if you know anything about hip flexors (I didn't), you know that they are pretty important when it comes to lower back pain, flexibility, strength, etc. So I think my anxiety this time around is actually based upon a 'real' thing instead of an 'imagined' one. Although since I am so tense lately I have plenty of the imagined ones as well.

It just kinda sucks to be anxious every time you get up to walk or even stand. Instead of just telling myself, "You need to relax. You need to stretch out your hips. You need to exercise", I'm worrying about if something else, something life-threatening, is wrong. And this is the constant battle. As you can see, I have health anxiety.

Anyway, that's it for now. I just wanted to share and see if anyone had experienced anything similar or had any advice.

I hope everyone is well. Stay strong. Don't give in to the fear. It isn't real.

-Tony