At the moment my anxiety has been pretty bad to the point it's a big effort to get out the house and do things! Last Saturday, I was desperate to get out the house and go shopping. I geared myselfl up and even though I was very anxious I thought to myself "I'm just going to go for it, what's the worst that could happen?" well I got halfway their panicked. turned back and came home, I felt sick, dizzy and had lost all my energy and motivation - now I know the title is about not giving up and I know I did then but the following Tuesday I got up again and did it! I went shopping and felt amazing for it, the first attempt obviously wasn't the right time but I didn't give up on the idea and tried again!

This motivated me so much that for the rest of the week I felt a lot more positive I had more energy to do things!

I went for another shopping trip on the Thursday with my Mum's friend with no hesitation and found the perfect outfit for a blogging event i'm going to tomorrow (Saturday 8th August). I felt I had loads more confidence in getting out the house and doing the things I used to enjoy so much!

Lastly, today I had a great time meeting a new friend, walking around my local town having some amazing conversations about whether pigeons have tongues! followed with some delicious food and some more random conversations! Time's like this I thought I'd never have anymore just allowed me to have fun and forget all about my anxieties!

This post is my first proper post on my 'adventure to happiness' up until then I had no energy or motivation, even getting out of bed was a struggle.This week has been a big step for me with my anxiety, I feel more positive about overcoming this hurdle in my life, and am hopefully motivating some of you guys to keep trying and don't give up on the things you want to do! It may take you more than two attempts to get somewhere but once you do it, I promise it will feel amazing!

PocketFullOfDaisys xx

In January this year I wrote a post on 'Doing things that scare me' and in that post I spoke about facing my fear of flying, well ladies and gentlemen I DID IT!!! Yes you read that right Miss "I'm never getting on an airplane" got on one and flew to Corfu!.

It's not the concept of flying and it crashing that scares me, but the fact you are trapped high up in the sky with no way out! I get major anxiety over being in places where it's not easy for me to escape if I feel anxious, so going on an airplane and being stuck in my seat for 3 hours was a big step for me! I also have a phobia of vomit (Emetophobia) so was anxious about me being sick or others around me and there being no escape route!

But all in all, I did it and will now share with you some techniques I used to get through the longest 3 hours of my life on the way there!

1. Knowing exactly what will happen - I had no idea what you do when you get to the airport and the procedures on the airplane, so went on google and read up about what you need to do when you get to the airport and then what happens when your on the plane. This really helped me as I felt that I knew what was going to happen every step of the way so I could be prepared. Although I was still constantly asking my Mum if every noise the airplane made if it was normal!
So tip No.1 Be prepared

2. Get to the airport on time - People without anxiety would find it stressful if they arrived late, let alone someone with severe anxiety! So my next tip is to get to the airport in plenty of time so you can stay relaxed and check in at your own pace, making sure you haven't forgotten anything :)

3. Breathing techniques - Before even stepping foot on the plane I started doing these I was so anxious! My favourite breathing technique is called 'Square breathing' and I wrote about this in my 'Surviving panic attacks' post. It's very simple and all you have to do is breath in for your nose for 4 seconds then out through your mouth for 4 seconds. I learnt this during CBT and it works wonders to calm and regulate your breathing.

4. Music - Depending how anxious I am music can be my saviour! Whether it's a bit of Taylor Swift to keep me calm or my relaxation music, both can be a real help to calm you down. When I first got on the plane I was terrified and needed to calm myself first, so just put the headphones in to block out some of the noise, then as I slowly calmed I started the music to keep my mind off my anxiety.




5. Reading a book - I personally didn't do this as I was too anxious to concentrate, but reading a book and getting lost in the world of imagination can really help you to forget about where you are and the scary situation. I ended up reading lots on holiday when I felt anxious as it distracted me from my worries!

6. Think about the positives - Think about all the amazing things you are going to do on your holiday, or if your flying home the things you will be reunited with - your beloved bed! This worked on the flight out and the way back for me as I was listing all the things I wanted to do on my holiday and then thinking of the things and people I will be reunited with on my return :)

7. Give yourself some praise - I was constantly telling myself on the flight to Corfu "you can do this, you are ok, you ARE doing this" which helped calm and motivate me as I was desperate to overcome my fear of flying and venture out in to the world. On the way back, it was a lot easier as I knew what was happening and was so proud of myself that I actually got on the plane and went on holiday in the first place!

8. Lastly, this isn't really a tip but some motivation as I was the girl for many years who said she would never get on a plane and I did it! not going to lie it was terrifying at first but you just have to overcome it and belief in yourself :)


I hope I've inspired some of you to face your fears of flying, let me know if you have any additional tips for first time or nervous flyers, would love to hear them!

Here's a few pics from my trip!



PocketFullOfDaisys xx

Wednesday 6th May 2015

Tuesday 5th May 2015

Breakfast: The ultimate Breakfast Smoothie

Recipe-

• 1 Banana
• 1 handful of frozen summer fruit berries
• 1 handful of fresh strawberries
• 3tbs oats
• 1tbs chia seeds
• handful of spinach
• 1/2cup of almond milk

Today I mixed the smoothie up a bit and added some fresh strawberries to it and it tasted divine!



Lunch: Gluten free seeded roll, salad and a gluten free flapjack

I didn't manage to take a picture of my lunch as I was at work but I shall do another blog post on my gluten free flapjack recipe.

Although I didn't eat a lot of this as my anxiety was playing up and I was feeling pretty sick and anxious!

Snack: Pear

Dinner: Gluten free pasta in a roasted garlic and tomato sauce

Todays dinner was a quick and easy pasta dish using gluten free pasta and a lloyd grossman sauce as I had a busy day at work and wasn't really up for cooking anything fancy!

Recently my anxiety has been through the roof and has been messing with my stomach. For the past two months I've been on anti-emetics due to constantly feeling sick to the point where I wasn't actually eating and was feeling extremely dizzy and run down. The anti-emetics (Cinnarizine) I take after every meal and seem to help or put my mind at peace that I won't be sick as I have a huge phobia (Emetophobia) of being sick.

I've been feeling constantly bloated and my stomach has just been feeling pretty unsettled but everyone has just been saying its all psychological! However after analysing when I get bloated, i've realised it's after i've eaten bread or foods with gluten in, and my symptoms are very similar to my brothers who then became intolerant to gluten!
Therefore with the encouragement of my new 'Deliciously Ella' book i've decided to try a gluten free diet and eat more natural foods and no processed or foods high in sugar to see if my stomach will settle down.

I'm going to be recording  the first few days of what I eat and new recipes as a record for me and hopefully inspire those in the same situation as me.

I've also brought a juicer to make some delicious juices to hopefully boost my energy and fill me with all the nutrients I need :)

So if this new diet works, I will be going back to my doctor and saying "in your face, it wasn't all in my head" as it was making me feel really down and angry that I was being told that it was all psychological and my symptoms weren't real (grr I hate doctors sometimes)

So follow me on my journey to a more natural and gluten free diet xxx

My "Adventure to Happiness" comes with a lot of facing my fears, and this is the year I'm going to kick them right in the face and over come them.

One of my biggest fears that I am going to overcome this year, is my fear of flying. The thought of flying terrifies me, Being stuck somewhere where I can't escape is my worst nightmare. Plus I have a phobia of vomit and being stuck somewhere where there is a chance I or others may vomit is even worse!

However this year after having an amazing holiday in France last year, I have decided to join my parents on a sunny holiday to Corfu!

This is going to be a massive step for me and I am ready to take it. I am all set with my relaxation techniques and motivation to get over my fears, I am determined to go on an amazing holiday with my parents and not be stopped by my fear of flying!






P.s
Today I did something that scares me, which is exercising in public. I have been for a run and bike ride today, something I normally wouldn't do due to to being scared of public humiliation. I feel great for it, so much more energised and it was really fun! Therefore I want to encourage others to do things out of their comfort zone this year as I am living proof that you feel great after it the majority of the time!

One of the main things I learnt through my CBT was positive thinking.

Positive thinking is having an optimistic attitude focusing on the positives not the negatives and having a forward looking approach to life.

For me positive thinking wasn't just a way of thinking that I learnt, but it actually brought to life some of my issues.

Early on in my therapy positive thinking was introduced to me and after a couple of sessions focusing on the strategy I still felt that I couldn't do it. I asked myself why, and the reason was that I truly was horrible to myself and never gave myself one ounce of praise for anything I did. My brain was so fixated on everything I did in life not being good enough that I couldn't even begin doing positive thinking as I didn't feel anything about me was positive.
My therapist was shocked at how horrible I was to myself, that we had to take very small steps to start thinking positively.

He gave me work sheets to basically evaluate things I did. At first he would allow me to write the horrible things I truly believed and then after he would help me evaluate them and try turn them into positives ( I think this part drove him crazy as my brain was having none of the positivity).

After a while (and I mean a while) I was trying really hard to think positively but I just felt that there was two people inside of me. The dominant person was constantly judging myself and putting me down, and the other one (the mouse) was trying to think positively.

This was a big step in my recovery, realising that I could think positively and that the negative part of me didn't always have to take over.

I am still working on positive thinking as I do still let the negative side take over occasionally but I just have to remind myself that I can think positively and me and my therapist had a lot of laughs over me trying to talk over the negative judgements my brain was trying to make.

I feel that everyone needs to do positive thinking on a daily basis as everyone deserves to think positively of themselves and should never be put down by others, and most importantly themselves!



And to carry on with the songs linking to my post, this song all about positive thinking definitely cheered me up on those down days!