unhappy woman suffering from hand inch at homeUgh! I am so itchy!

I had gotten to a point where I had scratched up all of my legs because it was insatiably itchy.

My arms were itchy, my legs were itchy, well you get the point. EVERYTHING WAS ITCHY!

So after exhausting all my natural health options I headed off to the doctors.

While there I mentioned my hand with the bumps on it that had been there for months. I had enquired back then with a different doctor and he said ‘oh they are just age spots.’

I said ‘really? Well why are they itchy?’  The doctor replied ‘They can get itchy.’

Fast forward to recent and I thought I would get a second opinion.

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Something just DIDN’T feel right.

The doctor looks at it and says ‘that’s your psoriasis and because you’ve left it so long it has turned into these little bump because you’ve been scratching them.’  I mentioned the original diagnosis and she replied ‘I’m sorry you didn’t get the right help then because this is going to take a while to clear up now.’

When I walked out I remember thinking ‘AARGH! I wish I had listened to my body sooner.’

You see, when I had been given the original diagnosis it just didn’t FEEL right.

To me, age spots are exactly that, just spots. They shouldn’t be raised or itchy.

And here I was just accepting that the diagnosis was right because he was the expert not me.

How wrong was I!

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You dear one, have an inbuilt system of knowing. It’s called your INTUITION.

As women with anxiety, it’s easy to second guess everything right?

You play scenario after scenario in your head.

Perhaps you even ignore what is tugging at your heart because you’re scared of what may happen if you enquire further.

You’ve dulled down your spark.

You’re not shining bright like a diamond. (Thanks Rhianna, that song is in my head now).

You’ve allowed your anxiety to make you doubt yourself again.

And if we had to dig really deep this is a confidence issue. You lack confidence in yourself so much that you doubt your decisions and allow others to take that power from you.

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The key to building the confidence and self-esteem you’’ll need to lead your life lies in developing a strong relationship with yourself.

To do this you need to go inwards.

I get it this can feel hard to do when you’re anxious and future projecting.

Ask yourself this one question to help you develop a stronger relationship with yourself:

What’s the one activity you know you need to do every day that would strengthen your relationship with yourself?

In committing to a daily practice you build an alliance with yourself. It takes discipline and commitment.

The next thing you need to ask yourself is:

What do you need to do to develop the self-discipline to make it happen? How will you bolster your chances of success?

Think about it this way. Self-discipline is an act of self-love. When you engage in this behaviour it raises your self-esteem and the way your build this muscle is to keep at it!

Create a regular routine as the body adapts to and prefers routine. (And as women with anxiety we thrive on routine as it takes the element of surprise away).

Mark it on your calendar even and make the time sacred.

Perhaps it may even be something you add into the 3 things to do each day (did you read last week’s blog post about it? You can read that HERE).

Your body may also be trying to get your attention. It may be trying to communicate a special message for you. (For me it’s because I’m resisting something and it’s manifesting in the itches. Psoriasis can come out as a protection thing). 

I’ll talk about this more in the weeks to come but next week I’ll talk about stillness and how it is the key to inner security first. If you can do this, then you’ll be able to listen to the messages your body is sending you.

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What’s the one activity you know you need to do every day that would strengthen your relationship with yourself?

I’d love to know comment below. All comments until the end of June go into the draw to win the Sarah Wilson book ‘First We Make the Beast Beautiful: A new story about anxiety.’ Please share using the buttons below if you loved the post.