So I had started having panic attacks/anxiety/general sadness about 3 weeks ago (first time after 7 years)
it has mostly gotten to me while driving, and I notice myself having intrusive thoughts- irrational ideas; like the one today started when I was driving from the beach into town ( I live in LA, and it's a long drive)
half way through I got stuck in traffic, i thought my car was overheating, and I was running late to a meeting. I tried to breath myself to calm and suddenly noticed all the different shop signages/billboards/advertising along the road- and it all seemed so.. strange-unreal-all the large words seemed to be menacing and overwhelming
I started thinking about how only crazy people get scared of random words, scared myself into a panic and proceeded to worry about going mad all the way to my destination. Then I gradually forgot about the episode again as I was distracted by social activities, but now can't fall asleep worrying about it (3:40 am).
does anyone else have strange triggers to their anxiety? mine generally have to do with driving, but sometimes are quite random- it almost feels like i "generate" an intrusive/scary/strange thought on purpose, and scare myself. and then panic about going mad.