Anxiety; it\u2019s kind of a buzz word nowadays, like being \u2018triggered\u2019.\u00a0 You could say the two go hand in (clammy) hand. But what is anxiety and why do we feel it? Many people confuse the terms stress and anxiety, but they are two entirely separate beasts. Anxiety can be defined as \u201cbeing uneasy, apprehensive or worried about what may happen,\u201d whereas stress is \u201cmental or emotional tension or strain characterised by feelings of anxiety, fear, trepidation etc.\u201d So, anxiety features on the symptom list of stress, but itself seems often to have no actual cause or definable trigger, and therefore is incredibly difficult to treat. An invisible bogey man that exists in the mind yet causes our bodies to react as if there is real and present danger.<\/p>
On the other hand, its equally nasty mate stress, the cause of so much suffering, illness and even death, at least offers a far more surmountable face to climb, due to the fact that it can oftentimes be relieved by accomplishing the task or challenge it relates to. Chronic stress, where a person is endlessly subject to unbearable levels of strain, is an outright killer and should be treated with accompanying levels of seriousness, but is not something we are going to explore in this particular piece. Meanwhile its sinister partner anxiety is usually tied to a perceived threat,<\/strong> and therefore tends to stick around and plague its victim at length, producing a host of physical and psychological symptoms in its wake.<\/p> Women are almost twice as likely to experience anxiety as men; an unfortunate gender malfunction which\u00a0 - as a woman in middle life - has recently revealed itself as a new and highly unwelcome addition to the effects of rollercoaster hormone fluctuations. Until recently I have never been one to suffer unduly with anxiety; that itchy, naggy, relentless feeling of doom or panic or fear, no sir. And yet, for no apparent reason, I have become subject to occasional sudden bouts of anxiety, some more serious than others. These occur out of the blue, and at various times, though most often in the very early morning.<\/p> Woken by the need to pee, the shadow wakes with my bladder and starts to whisper. Like a venomous spider crawling across the surface of my suddenly wide awake and racing mind, it seizes on the soft and pleasant go-back-to-sleep urge and substitutes it with hot hands and feet, restless limbs and a mind infected with a parasite. Sometimes the attack is short-lived, and with a sentient focus on breathing and mindfulness, mercifully eases, but at others it can entirely derail the normal workings of my brain and leave me at its mercy for hours. It is torturous, like being caught in the silken strands of a spider\u2019s web, not yet ready for the last rites but paralysed and at the enemy\u2019s mercy.<\/p> What is the solution and what is the link to surfing? In the water I am fearless, a ninja\u2026.known locally and affectionately as Kawabunga. I\u2019ll go on anything; 10 foot plus has been known - not necessarily with great results. After getting a fin in the face during a bad wipeout and busting my eyebrow wide open, requiring stitches at a minor injury unit - I couldn\u2019t wait to get back in the water. There was some fear and definite cautiousness the first surf back in, but this quickly evaporated and I was soon back to my old ways of sending it on bigger than my ability waves. And so, to get accosted by the fear of absolutely nothing, on dry land, out of the blue and without any apparent trigger, is truly scary. It feels like I am fighting with my own shadow\u2026<\/p> So I have decided the only way to defeat it is to get it out of the closet and into the light. Share and be damned! Anxiety; I am naming and shaming you, you disgusting mind spider, and sending a ruthless bird of prey to come and devour you. On the silent wings of an owl comes the antidote to your silent and nefarious attack, because I refuse to be pinned down and paralysed by my own shadow. Demon be gone!<\/p> We\u2019ve all heard the saying \u2018no fear\u2019, and some of us are even vintage enough to remember when the clothes brand was all the rage. But what does that saying actually mean? It is bandied around in surfing in response to the fear of the big wave, the steep drop, the heavy slab. The truth is we all feel fear, its just that some of us are more held back by it and refuse to act, whereas others blast through the feeling to the accomplishments on the other side, and therefore get to experience the intense joy of conquering their fears. What you may not realise, as did I till I researched for this blog, is that \u2019No fear' actually means 'certainly not', 'no way'.\u00a0So by saying 'no fear', you mean 'absolutely not'.\u00a0And that\u2019s exactly what I am telling my anxiety. No freaking way. Absolutely not. Laters anxiety, I got bigger fish to fry.<\/p>","urlTitle":"lotus-life-no-fear","url":"\/blog\/lotus-life-no-fear\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/lotus-life-no-fear\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/lotussurf.co.uk\/blog\/lotus-life-no-fear\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1721734699,"updatedAt":1721735191,"publishedAt":1721735190,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":309190,"name":"Lotus Surf Co"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/jm9gj3jm3f87g0ukubzq3iacsrkilyvsxf530igkcyahvafg.jpeg?z=1.6&fx=0.52105728437801&fy=0.3125","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/jm9gj3jm3f87g0ukubzq3iacsrkilyvsxf530igkcyahvafg.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855&z=1.6&fx=0.52105728437801&fy=0.3125","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/jm9gj3jm3f87g0ukubzq3iacsrkilyvsxf530igkcyahvafg.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440&z=1.6&fx=0.52105728437801&fy=0.3125"},"metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":54987,"title":"Peter Beeson Biography","url":"\/blog\/peter-beeson\/","urlTitle":"peter-beeson","division":309190,"description":"Renowned painter Peter Beeson works from his studio in St Ives overlooking the sunrise, which is also which is also one of his favourite motifs. 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