For everyone, that means something different.

I used to be in a loop of trying this trick, and that coping mechanism for my anxiety. 

Only, to end up right where I started. 

Let me tell you a quick story...

Here is me about 5 years ago: 

I look pretty happy sitting by that Christmas tree, don't I?... 

It was one of the worst years of my life. 

Some days I dragged myself into work after redoing my makeup for the 3rd time.

All because I had just been crying all morning; obsessing over a twitch, a mole, a pain. 

This was the same year my boss at the time came up to me and said, 

"Tamryn, I'm worried about you, why don't you take 2 weeks off?"

He recognized that I needed help before I did.

I had had the occasional panic attack before, but I thought things like:

“Everyone has them, there’s nothing wrong with me, i’ll just brush it off”

and

"I'm just extra stressed out right now, it'll go away"

I mean, I was in a happy relationship, I had a roof over my head and food in my belly. 

Surely there was nothing "wrong" with me. 

How could I be one of those people who had a “problem” 

Little did I know that if left alone, these symptoms will escalate over time.

Which is what exactly happened to me.

Instead of finding out why I was experiencing these symptoms, I did what I thought was best at the time, I ran from my (very real) problem.

I ran all the way to a tiny-impersonal-white-on-white-fluorescent-lighting walk-in doctor's office. 

10 minutes later, prescription in hand, I confidently strutted out the office, holding what I thought would be my saving grace.

All I wanted was to feel "normal" again.

The pills worked to get rid of my symptoms.

But they had side effects I never saw coming. 

For months I felt like I was in a daze. 

Kinda like a zombie walking the earth. 

Emotionless.

Never really present. 

It was like I was watching my life play out from deep within, but not really participating in it. 

I had reached a stumbling block I never even saw coming.

Going off the medication was an easy decision.

But because the medication was simply a "band-aid" my anxiety came back worse than ever!

Here I was almost a year later, in the exact same spot I had started out at.

Worse, actually.

And that's where smiling "happy" me (see above) at Christmas time enters the story... 

I made the decision that the only person who could control my future was myself. I was in control. 

I decided my anxiety would no longer rule the show.

I began to make changes to my lifestyle, I started doing yoga, and eating better. 

And I started to go to therapy. 

Which all helped, but I still didn't feel like myself.

I still felt like I was alone.

There was one key thing missing... 

(I'll get to what that was in a bit.) 

Did you know that research has proven that therapy and lifestyle changes alone are not enough for healing an anxious mind?

I know, this shocked me too. 

Like I was saying before, that one thing that was missing was exactly what the research proved. 

That one thing is: 

Having a supportive tribe of people you can trust and be completely open with!

It seems simple.

But even today, in 2019, the one thing that hurts those of us who have suffered from anxiety the most is the stigma.

Be honest, has your anxiety ever left you feeling genuinely and completely powerless? 

Admitting you experience anxiety is one of the hardest things to do. 

It's exactly why only 1/3 of the 40 million anxiety sufferers in the United States alone get help. 

But as someone who was once too scared and embarrassed to open up about my anxiety to those closest to me, I get it. 

Taking that first step to open up to those closest to me was HARD. 

But it was so worth it. 

No longer did I just have to "push through" my anxiety.

I don't pretend to know everything, and I don't know what your situation is like currently. 

But what I can say is, whatever your "Free From Anxiety" looks it, it all starts within you... 

Are you ready to take control of your future?