I woke up this morning after dreaming of my childhood. I was the street that I grew up on in Terrace, British Columbia, Canada (pictured on the left is Terrace, B.C.). It was the winter and I was walking with my friends in the snow, which was very deep and hard to step through.

As we were walking along the side of the snow filled street, we came upon a family of starving people. They were suffering from frost-bite and their faces were red with blisters and sores. We (my friends) stopped and walked through the even deeper snow bank to help pull these poor souls back onto the street – with the intention of bringing them to shelter, and helping them in every way we could.

When we finally got close to them we suddenly realized that they were not sick. They were not starving either. They were not even cold. When I looked around us in a group, my friends and this family we went to rescue, there was not snow. All that was left of the ice and snow had melted away and felt cool and refreshing against my feet. I could feel the warmth of a perfect sun that was perfectly warm and not too hot on our skin.

The faces of this family were beaming with a healthy glow, and they put their hands on our shoulders. They smiled quietly and never spoke a word. There leader was a woman. She came close to me and hugged me. In my ear she whispered, “There is no need to be cold. There is no need to struggle as you walk your journey, there is not need to fear. You and your friends are the same as us. You are perfect, warm, beautiful, and your journey is one of great glory.”

When I woke up from this dream, I felt like a warm protective blanket was wrapped around me. This feeling of peace and love never left me until later in the day when the normal events of toil and work took consumed my attention.

When I came home from work, there was a DVD in my mailbox that I had ordered from Amazon.com. The DVD was called Brother Sun Sister Moon. I watched it just now with my wife Emma. This movie is the story of Francis of Assisi, and it was beautiful and amazing. This was the end to a perfect day.

When we think of love, peace, and bliss, it is impossible to worry and be fearful. When we stop worrying about the trivia of life, and begin living, all those worrisome things begin to fade away.

This post is regarding the choice to use anti-anxiety medication, or the choice to not take anti-anxiety medication, but first off, I want to say hello to all the visitors on Sane Advice. I hope you are all keeping a balance and taking action to find an even better balance.

When To Consider Taking Anti-Anxiety Medication

I understand that most people don’t want to take medication to get their anxiety under control. I would suggest that you try to get your thinking under control and find an emotional balance before you try taking medication such as Paxil. However, there is a defining moment when you may find that medication is required to get yourself sleeping again, eating properly again, and making good choices again. Where this line is is different for every anxiety sufferer. This is something you need to discuss with a doctor, friends and family.

Don’t let the medication withdrawal symptoms you hear about online frighten you. As long as you learn how to quit taking your anti-anxiety medication properly, you can certainly ween yourself off later down the road. I’m not suggesting you should run off to the doctor to get a Paxil prescription. Not at all. If you only have a panic attack once a month, and you suffering from light symptoms, you don’t need medication, and you can get yourself back on track by making lifestyle changes and thinking changes.

BUT….if you can’t sleep, can’t eat, have really bad diarrhea or IBS, have serious depression and thoughts of suicide, you need to get to a doctor immediately. You VERY likely need medication right away. Like I said, when you are at this extreme state of your disorder you can’t mess around anymore. You’re going need some help in the form of medical advice, medication, and/or counseling.

When You Begin Taking Your Anti-Anxiety Medication

When start taking your anti-anxiety medication don’t be afraid. It’s not something you have to take the rest of your life. It might only be for 6 months or a year. Don’t let all the Internet forums and blogs scare you into thinking that medication is a bad poison that the drug companies have crippled the public with. You can ween yourself off your medication the right way and move into the future anxiety free and medication free.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this information is very important for people who begin taking anti-anxiety meds. No matter what kind of medication you begin taking try not to be afraid of it. You will be able to quit another day, and right now you need to get yourself under control give yourself a break from your desperate stress, and get yourself sleeping and eating properly again. Once your sleep and appetite get better again, you brain will begin getting back on track. Then you need to start making changes in your life and changes in your ways of thinking. The reason you are suffering from extreme anxiety can be many.

Reasons For Extreme Anxiety

In my case my anxiety is due to family genetics and the household I was raised in. This could be you as well. All of our brains have developed, grown, and receded in different ways. Some people are very fortunate to have been raised by parents who don’t have any family history of stress disorders, bad thinking, fear-based processing, or actual physical genetics that cause brain disease. The medical and scientific professions are learning more every year on the causes of brain disease, family genetics, depression, anxiety, and ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

Whatever your special circumstance is, you are suffering from anxiety due to your surrounding, your parents/family, your past choices, your job, your attitude, your immediate surroundings, and the nature chemical balance in your brain.

You may be one of those millions of people who suffer from extreme anxiety due to all of the above scenarios. Your anxiety and imbalance may be so extreme that medication is your only temporary answer if you want to begin healing. If you have to go the medication route, do not be afraid, and don’t despair. Don’t listen to those around you who have never been where you are. You need to speak with a GOOD doctor who understands your symptoms and condition. Family members, loved ones, friends, and co-workers likely won’t understand what you are even talking about. They may something ridiculous like, “Oh, you just need to find a good spouse”, or “You just need to relax – lets go have some drinks”, or “you just need to stop worrying”. As all extreme anxiety sufferers know, it is not that easy, and if it was that easy, we would have done all that. Most of us extreme anxiety sufferers HAVE tried all that. Many times.

No – these kind folks have no idea how bad your suffering is and you need to educate yourself regarding your condition. I want you to know that if you are just beginning to realize that you have an anxiety disorder, it is very treatable, and you will see the sun again. You will get things back on track, and you eventually STOP thinking bad thoughts. In fact, you will learn that your thoughts are not really meant to be trusted and taken a gospel. When you have good thoughts, happy visions, and relaxing moments in your day, you are connecting to the real truth. When you have bad thoughts, negative visions, and constant worry, you are unconnected with your universal energy source, and those thoughts cannot be trusted. Your thoughts are not you. Your soul and spirit are you.

If you ever have scary thoughts that frighten you, such us killing someone, killing yourself, hurting someone, hurting yourself, dying, becoming terminally ill, etc – these are untrue thoughts and not to be taken seriously – just ignore them.

In fact you can pretty well ignore the majority of your thinking because it’s that useless. Usually your thinking is just repetitive grinding on fantasies and untrue thoughts. You don’t need to be constantly reminding yourself that you think you are a dolt, or a dummy, you’re losing your mind, you’re dying, you’re losing face, etc, etc, etc. Your thinking has been caused by your societal programming and it will take time to stop taking these thoughts so seriously.

Our minds are tools, and usually useless tools. Let your body have the day and pay attention to it. Use your brain to move your body, hands, feet, muscles, etc. to move you from room to room, building to building. Let your mind take you to your car, the train, the plane, or the bus, so you can get to where you need to go. Let your brain help you be kind to friends, family, and strangers – don’t let your brain do much more than that. You will notice that you are much happier, healthier, and MUCH less anxious.