How do you battle your anxiety before heading into a building? I am an anxious wreck, my whole life is anxiety. I am also a risk taker, the two do not always fit hand in hand. When I am about to explore a place I am unfamiliar with or even after returning a location after a long time, I am extremely anxious. It has deterred me from explorations at times. The best solution I've found is kind of swallowing the anxiety, essentially a "YOLO". My mindset is "you're either going to do this or not so full send." But I'd still like to get into a better mindset because the anxiety can be extremely clouding to judgement.

The only times I suffered anxiety was when I lived in Massachusetts. I worked for a large company (bindery) where everyone gossiped all the time. I'd come home, drink whiskey and smoke pot and I'd be like "why did I say that, to that person". I switched to beer, moved to Florida and started work at a small company with little gossip. I left the anxiety up north...

Posted by Hawkwind The only times I suffered anxiety was when I lived in Massachusetts. I worked for a large company (bindery) where everyone gossiped all the time. I'd come home, drink whiskey and smoke pot and I'd be like "why did I say that, to that person". I switched to beer, moved to Florida and started work at a small company with little gossip. I left the anxiety up north...

yeah, anxiety is definitely heavily influenced on your surroundings. I find it hard to pin-point where it comes from. I cannot imagine a life without anxiety but maybe one day, I am working on it. Good for you though, that was probably not too easy. Did it affect exploration for you? (If you were exploring at the time)

I totally get that. I'm a very anxious person and I think, to a degree, nerves are not only normal when exploring, but helpful. In "Access All Areas", Ninja writes about how if your nerves aren't high while exploring, you're in greater danger of being caught or getting injured. So I don't think conquering the anxiety entirely is necessary.
That being said, I definitely understand the annoyance of such pervasive anxiety. I mainly drain, but usually for the first 1/4 mile or so inside the drain I feel terribly anxious and sometimes want to turn back. I think repetition is the key to conquering this feeling– the more you explore and don't get into any trouble, the more you reinforce in your mind that it's a positive experience and not that scary. Maybe practicing some known anxiety reduction techniques could be helpful as well... slow breathing, having a mantra to repeat in your head... just some ideas of things that have helped me.

"Did it affect exploration for you? (If you were exploring at the time)"

Nope, just made me worry about work...

For me, having another person with me usually helps a lot. If I’m by myself usually I’ll text my brother (who usually comes exploring with me) and make him hype me up haha. Honestly though sometimes having anxiety is a good thing, it’s your minds way of telling you “hmm maybe this isn’t the greatest idea”. It’s up to you to determine for yourself wether or not the risk is worth it. In my opinion, if you know how to talk to cops and property owners well, the risk is pretty minimal anyway.

I feel like anxiety is part of the fun... the rush you get after you're out of the location and safely back at home / in your car is the warm feeling that has you coming back for more. But if you're really scared, having an urbex-experienced friend always does help.

The thing that changed my anxiety the most was being caught several times over the years. I've experienced a huge spectrum of different outcomes, even having one situation that was almost as bad as things could have possibly gotten. Throughout each of these events I learned a lot about what I needed to do differently, which was really important. I've been able to explore more in each of the years following my worst experience than I was before, and more comfortably for the most part.

Another much more immediate thing is that I don't like to go into anything that's a "one way in, one way out" scenario. Whenever I'm in something sketchy I almost immediately look for an alternative exit in case things go south. It really makes me miss having a bunch of asylums with tunnels all over the place. That was the best. Go in one way, pop up on the complete opposite side of campus A quarter mile away.

It's perfectly normal to feel some level of anxiety when you're attempting something beyond just your regular walk in no or very low risk sort of location. Hell I've been exploring for the best part of 15 years now and the nerves and anxiety still comes up occasionally depending on what I'm doing.

It kind of varies wildly, sometimes I'll be waltzing into the most sketchy thing humanly imaginable and feel totally fine but sometimes I'll be bugging out to the max going into some dumb shithole. I think it's more of a gut instinct thing for me, but that proves to be wrong all the time.

I think being anxious is normal.

It's case per case really so knowing the different outcome if you are caught can help you be less anxious.

Going to explore a wide open spot versus a recently closed prison on active federal grounds are two different thing as you probably know.

Understand the laws of where you are and the consequences related to an arrest at this particular spot, taking in consideration you didn't had tools on you, you were there only to photograph and had no criminal intention.

Most of spots unless you like really hardcore stuff you will have no real legal problem.

The thing that always helped me contain and control the anxiety is to always go step by step.

It's almost always okay if you are not caught in the property so all the hard part usually is entering the location and that is what is scary because you need to avoid security etc.

So just think, "ok, i'm not in yet, if i'm getting caught it won't be so bad".

And just advance, step by step, always going a little bit further and checking your surroudings.

Take your time, if the spot really scares you, just take more time to scout, check the security mesures, make sure of your route, know your exit possibilities, have a good "story" preapaires and don't look scared or sketched out if you'r being caught.

Always play like you didn't knew you didn't belond there or that is was not ok to be there.
Believe your story, the more you look innocent the more they will believe you.

Always try to see what security is doing if you can, this will calm you down.
If you think you've been spotted, "follow" them to always have an advance on them.
(i personnally like to see what is going on better than just hide forever somewhere or run away,not knowing, but again it's really case per case)


The more prepaired you will be the better you will feel.
Going blind with no info and no prescout is stressing for sure.

Good luck with everything and i hope i helped a little.