Everything feels like a potential catastrophe. Before there were very specific things I got anxious about, but now I feel like it’s everything. I feel like there’s is no escape or break from the anxiety and it’s wearing me down.
I just imagine the worst possible outcomes of every situation however ridiculous they are. The rational part of me knows it’s probably not going to happen but my brain just won’t turn off.
I just feel so overwhelmed and don’t know how to get myself out of this unhelpful cycle.
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anxious_hb
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I’ve been suffering with anxiety for about 6 years and had CBT about 5 years ago. I always have my ups and downs but I’d say I’ve been feeling like this a month or two now.
I’d say this symptom is probably one of my main ones when it comes to my anxiety, like I think if I leave my house empty it’ll burn down because there’s nobody in it to look after it etc! I’ve never really allowed this to take over as I have ways of reassuring myself and make sure I still do the things I need to do, I hope you can get past this as I know how awful it can be x
I too suffer with this, irrational thinking is my biggest fight. Take the word, thinking and realise it is just a thought not reality. Jeff is the most experienced, wise man I have related to on here so he makes good sense all the way. If you have experienced any trauma in relation to the feelings you get, then it is understandable you feel anxious. Here and now is what it is and memories are there, but when you feel low they come to the forefront, especially if you had a trigger to set off that cycle, so then it starts again. Try to break that cycle somehow to stop the thinking process, like, say your routine is the same every day, do something different so that you are not in that same thought process, does that make sense. Give it a try
Anxious_hb, somehow some time ago you experienced a period of worry, over work, stress or disappointment and this caused your nervous system to become over sensitised. In this state it plays tricks on us, predictable tricks, and one of these is that it exaggerates or magnifies small concerns and worries and remote dangers ten fold or more into major fears and impending doom.
So your nerves are reacting exactly as they do in this situation for so many, your are not alone in your bad feelings, you are in the company of untold thousands. But it is only an illusion and with understanding your nervous system can lose its over sensitisation and you will recover completely.
Your nervous system is being kept in a state of high sensitivity by the fear hormone you are flooding your nervous system with in great abundance. So instead of fighting your demons and fearing them you must surrender to them and accept them for the time being. Fighting only causes more strain and stress and tension and you need a lot less of this to recover. Had fighting your anxiety ever done you any good? No, or you wouldn't be here today for I am sure you have fought long and valiantly but now the fighting must stop. Surrender to the bad feelings, learn to co-exist with them for a little longer, you know they are only blips in your nervous system, falso signals caused by fear and over sensitisation.
So frame your mind to Accept all the bad feelings calmly and with the minimum of fear, submit to them without retaliation and carry on with your normal life only with utter acceptance. If you can do this you stem the tide of fear and allow your shattered nerves to heal. And in time, not in a week or maybe even two you will feel a sea change taking place and the fear will desert you and you will regain your quiet mind and the world will seem normal once more. And all it requires from you is Acceptance, practice, persistance and patience. Watch it come true.
Allow yourself to think and feel anything. Let all the thoughts come. Nothing is off limits. It’s how you react to those anxious thoughts which will determine whether or not you keep fueling the anxiety fire. If you pamper to those thoughts and believe them, your action reinforces the message that there is danger. You are literally training yourself to react in fear and stay stuck in the fear-adrenalin - fear cycle. . If you train yourself not to react to them and pay no respect, observing them and not doing anything about them (letting them go without resistance or adding more fear) they will gradually disappear. You have anxious thoughts because you have anxiety. They won’t be there when you recover so stop wasting time and energy trying to stop them, trying to reason with them, trying to control them, fighting them etc. It’s the trying to do something about it which keeps people stuck in the thick of it.
Anxiety is a paradox. The more you do to try and recover, the less you recover. The less you do to try and recover, the more you recover. Doing nothing about those thoughts works. Sufferers think they must do something to rid themselves of anxiety, as the picture you posted suggests (how do I stop thinking). It’s human to want to move away from things that make them uncomfortable but with anxiety, you do the opposite to recover.
It’s like riding a bicycle.. If you feel yourself falling off the bike, you must turn into the fall to stop it happening. If you turn the handle bars the other way, you fall off. If your car skids, you turn the steering wheel in the direction of the skid to stop it.
People develop ocd because it’s a technique to stop themselves from feeling anxious. Techniques are a temporary solution at best. The permanent solution lies in letting yourself feel anxious and do nothing about the thoughts as per my post below. If it was a real fear, we’d all be running around checking doors multiple times. Let the thoughts go, let yourself feel anxious and walk out the door.
Very true Beevee and of course this is the self help method of acceptance devised so many years by Claire Weekes and explained in her short book 'Self help for your nerves' (U.K. version) and 'Hope and help for your netves' (U.S. version) that uses the four imperatives of Face - Accept - Float - And let time pass. This book has been life-changing for untold tens of thousands of people experiencing anxiety disorder and it's on sale new or used on Amazon.
Absolutely Jeff1943. No self discerning anxiety sufferer shouldn’t be without a copy. It’s the “go to” book that explains nervous fatigue which is key to understanding the baffling and bewildering experiences that make recovery so elusive. Nervous fatigue shows itself as either muscular, emotional, mental or fatigue of the spirit (depression or depletion which is a better expression to use).
Understanding what is happening to the mind and body is the first big step a person takes on the road to recovery as it takes away the bewilderment, removes some of the fear of the unknown. Once a sufferer understands, it paves the way for them to accept the symptoms of nervous fatigue, instead of fighting them, allowing the nerves the time and space they need to recover. Fighting, avoiding, trying to control anxiety i.e. doing anything to not feel anxious (apart from exercise which is always good, so long as you doing it for yourself and not your anxiety) is like continually picking at a scab. It never heals. It needs to be left alone to heal naturally. Same goes for the by products of nervous fatigue (anxiety, depression, OCD, agoraphobia...any fear based disorder) which is why doing nothing about the symptoms and making your life bigger than anxiety eventually brings recovery. I know it is easier said than done but it is possible, once you know what you are dealing with and know what it takes to recover. Like Jeff1943 said, many thousands, probably millions of people have recovered. Just don’t go searching for it, trying different things to not feel anxious. Let it do it’s worst and just watch it doing it. It’s almost like creating a space between you and your anxiety where you look at it but don’t get involved. If you learn to fully accept and surrender yourself entirely to anxiety, recovery will find you.
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Why do I dwell on thoughts?
Always thinking about death 
Why do we over think?!
Always assume the worst 
