When Anxiety Took Over My Life: How a Simple Hematite Bracelet Changed Everything

Not long ago, I was struggling with severe anxiety—an overwhelming panic that would often hit me the moment I woke up. I’d feel a tight knot in my stomach, and it would linger almost the entire day.

A few months earlier, I had gone through a traumatic experience. Looking back, those fears were probably the result of a completely overstimulated nervous system.

Getting through the days felt incredibly hard. I shut myself inside my home, only going out when it was absolutely necessary—like buying drinking water or toilet paper. Even the thought of greeting neighbours or having small talk if I bumped into someone I knew felt unbearable.

Of course, at some point I reached out to my GP. I asked for a referral to a psychotherapist who could help me process trauma, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find the right support at that time.

On one of my better days, I was walking across the Dappermarkt in Amsterdam. There, quite by chance, I noticed a new little shop had opened—nothing but semi-precious stones. I walked in.

I usually wear bracelets with stones like rose quartz and aventurine. But they break easily. And when they do, I simply replace them. So that was my reason for going in—to replace them.

The shop owner and I started talking. I told her I was happy she had opened her shop. Normally, I would go all the way to Haarlem to replace my bracelets, but now I could do it much closer by.

I also told her I was looking for something to help me feel more grounded. She handed me a hematite bracelet. “Try this,” she said, wrapping it in a linen pouch with a delicate ribbon.

At home, I put it on. What a difference...

I didn’t expect it at all.

The bracelets I already wore always had a very subtle effect. But this one felt like it worked immediately and strongly. My sense of unsafety and vulnerability simply melted away the moment I put it on.

The next day, I went back. “Are you coming every day?” the shop owner asked, half joking. 

“I’m here to get another hematite bracelet”, I said, “just in case this one breaks”.

Since then, I always wear one hematite bracelet, and I keep a spare with me at all times.
It works wonders.

And now that I feel much more grounded, I want to stay that way. Because I’m almost completely free from my anxiety. Yes, it still happens sometimes that I wake up with that knot in my stomach. But then I simply notice it: Oh, there’s that knot again. And it disappears just as quickly.

Anyway—hematite is my stone.

Do you have a stone like that too?

Let me know in the comments, and feel free to share this post with someone who might need it.

Photo: Emily Karakis