31m, I quit drinking almost a little over a year and half ago because it was not a good coping mechanism for anxiety. Never had it until…. BOOM! One day I am anxious. Drinking helped for a little while until it stopped working for the anxiety. I did go to AA where I learned a lot about myself, met other people with anxiety, and were there for me to reach out to. Sometimes when I am anxious, my brain races with 6391964 I am currently dying from (fill in the blank). It helps to ground yourself by texting someone who understands anxiety. I would recommend you ask if they are available to text, they may be preoccupied. This helps you to ground yourself in the moment, realize what’s going through your head and process things into text. If you don’t feel like texting write in your phones notes with an anxiety journal. Literally write exactly what you are feeling, seeing and thinking no matter how freaking weird. This way when you have anxiety you can go back and read all the times you thought you were going to die or not make it through the night, this will remind you. That you can and will! For some odd reason when I am anxious I sit on the bathroom floor blast the shower on hot and turn my bathroom into a steam room. The noise helps to dilute the silence, my brain tends to fill with negative thoughts. I can’t really mediate when I am anxious, sometimes if I am really in a bad place I pray,(I am not religious). It can’t make things much worse, right? I have gotten outside help from doctors trying anti anxiety meds. For me personally, it helped a little but only enough for me to actually use tools to work though it on my own.

Please if you have questions, want to chat about it or have tips please comment or message. YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS BATTLE!!