By Stan Popovich Contributor
As a person who struggled with fear and anxiety for over 20 years, the one thing I learned was ignoring your mental health issues can be a very costly mistake in your life. Making excuses and not getting help for your anxieties and depression will only makes things worse for you.
As a result, this is what I did when I started to realize my mental health problems were starting to interfere with my life.
Know the warning signs. When I first started dealing with my fears and anxieties, I thought it was just a phase and it would go away. I was wrong; my fears and anxieties would come and go on a regular basis and it started to be a major factor in my life. I knew something was wrong and I had to do something.
Do not make the mistake of doing nothing. I knew of some of my friends and colleagues who had similar issues with fear, anxiety and depression who didn't get any help. As a result, some of these people could not hold down a job and they became very distant and unresponsive. I decided I needed to find a way to manage my fears and anxieties and to get my life back on track.
Get some professional advice from a counselor. My first step was to talk to a mental health counselor and I would always take notes on what I learned from each session I went to. In addition, I read many books and I learned what worked, what didn't work and what I needed to do to improve my situation. I realized the more I learned the easier things got for me.
I did not make excuses. With a lot of practice, I became very good at dealing with my fears and anxieties. I realized the answers to my problems were out there, however it was up to me to find those techniques which would get rid of my fears and anxieties. Making excuses would not improve on my situation.
I was persistent. There were times I felt like giving up because my fears and anxieties were so powerful and I didn't know what to do. I worried about what would happen and that just made my fears much stronger. During those times, I made it a point to learn from my experiences so I would be better able to handle these situations in the future.
Your situation is not hopeless. There are many mental health support groups in your area that can help get your life back on track. The people at these groups are willing to help you, but you must be willing to make the choice of getting better.
Do not wait until it is too late. I read stories of people who ended their life because they didn't get the help they needed to manage their mental health issues. Do not make excuses and do not let fear stop you from getting assistance. Every problem has a solution; you just have to make the effort to find the answers.
Biography
Stan Popovich is the author of the popular managing fear book, "A Layman's Guide To Managing Fear." For more information about Stan's book and to get free mental health advice, please visit Popovich's website at managingfear.com.