Anxiety?

[Summer Rain]

Does anyone here suffer from anxiety - and if so, what triggers it? How do you cope and get over what makes you anxious (if you do)?

I just got diagnosed with performance anxiety - basically the need to be an overachiever and to please people. I am so conscious of what others think of me, making me very anxious when doing exams/presentations, and when I start a new job. I got a great full-time job for the summer in an accounting firm, but had to quit because my anxiety was terrible after just the first day! I couldn't handle it. I always excel at what I do but sometimes my anxiety just makes it not worth it. I'm working with a therapist now and trying to figure out where I belong (maybe that's not in a big firm I've realized)... it's just hard because I never used to be this anxious!

I am lucky to have a family that is supportive. I still feel like such a failure and I still live at home (I'm 21)... I feel like I need to get 'this show on the road' so to speak, even though I know I'm young! Ugh!

 

[Sidhe]

I've been diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder for about 12 years, and unfortunately it's just gotten worse over the past year or so. I have no idea what has triggered this sudden surge in anxiety, but I'm pretty tired of it. It impacts literally everything I do. Mostly I have horrible, dreadful social anxiety, and basically every non-basic human interaction (and some basic ones!) trigger my anxiety. One of the few things that doesn't is posting on forums, because for some reason my mind interprets it as me being around lots of other people who can sponge up attention from me. However, you get me in private, and it kicks into over drive. I can't handle PMs. I let the little red number next to inbox just hang out there for ages because I can't bring myself to click on it and see what people have to say. Even once I do get the courage to look at messages, responding to them is a whole 'nother ball game.

I wish I could describe my anxiety when it comes to personal interaction, but I can't really. It's a mix of self hatred, fear of rejection, and fear of hurting others. In the end, I'd much rather just give up and self flagellate for weeks or months instead of risk fucking up by talking to people. Apparently, fucking up by ignoring people is okay in my mind's book. (It isn't really. It is not okay. I hate myself for doing that to people - over, and over, and over.) I've just isolated myself completely now. It's really awful. I have so much love to give, but I'm too scared to give it.

Outside of social anxiety, I also have terrible health anxiety, and most recently some issues with paranoia. I can't go to certain places (mostly malls) because I'm convinced they're gonna get bombed. If I take an Ativan and go with someone else, I can kind of handle it, because then at least if I die, I'll die with someone else I care about. Ha ha ha. 8| I won't go into too much detail about other facets of my paranoia because I don't want to offend anyone.

As for health anxiety, I'm basically a hypochondriac. It's terrible. I can never tell if my body is really hurting or if it's just my anxiety causing these problems. Thankfully, Ativan stops that anxiety in its tracks. It just makes it really difficult to sleep because all I can think about is the different ways I'm going to die.

So, uh, tl;dr - anxiety has consumed my life and it really, really sucks.

 

[Summer Rain]

I feel your pain... anxiety does really hurt and it's even harder when people tell you just to "suck it up". Ativan is a life saver, though. I'm also on Celexa and they upped me to 30Mg, leading to weird dreams but a better mood for sure. Unfortunately it isn't easy to just face your fears as people like to believe. Hope you feel better <3.

 

[Space Cowboy]

I've been diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder for about 12 years, and unfortunately it's just gotten worse over the past year or so. I have no idea what has triggered this sudden surge in anxiety, but I'm pretty tired of it. It impacts literally everything I do. Mostly I have horrible, dreadful social anxiety, and basically every non-basic human interaction (and some basic ones!) trigger my anxiety. One of the few things that doesn't is posting on forums, because for some reason my mind interprets it as me being around lots of other people who can sponge up attention from me. However, you get me in private, and it kicks into over drive. I can't handle PMs. I let the little red number next to inbox just hang out there for ages because I can't bring myself to click on it and see what people have to say. Even once I do get the courage to look at messages, responding to them is a whole 'nother ball game.

I wish I could describe my anxiety when it comes to personal interaction, but I can't really. It's a mix of self hatred, fear of rejection, and fear of hurting others. In the end, I'd much rather just give up and self flagellate for weeks or months instead of risk fucking up by talking to people. Apparently, fucking up by ignoring people is okay in my mind's book. (It isn't really. It is not okay. I hate myself for doing that to people - over, and over, and over.) I've just isolated myself completely now. It's really awful. I have so much love to give, but I'm too scared to give it.

Outside of social anxiety, I also have terrible health anxiety, and most recently some issues with paranoia. I can't go to certain places (mostly malls) because I'm convinced they're gonna get bombed. If I take an Ativan and go with someone else, I can kind of handle it, because then at least if I die, I'll die with someone else I care about. Ha ha ha. 8| I won't go into too much detail about other facets of my paranoia because I don't want to offend anyone.

As for health anxiety, I'm basically a hypochondriac. It's terrible. I can never tell if my body is really hurting or if it's just my anxiety causing these problems. Thankfully, Ativan stops that anxiety in its tracks. It just makes it really difficult to sleep because all I can think about is the different ways I'm going to die.

So, uh, tl;dr - anxiety has consumed my life and it really, really sucks.

This is me. This is ALL of me!!

I don't even need to extrapolate here, this all is familiar, especially the self flagellation and ignoring people at times during great anxiety and duress.

But yeah, I've been diagnosed with depression for 12 years now and anxiety for close to 10. I have a few other things too, and it's all kept under wrap with a healthy dose of depakote, propranolol, and monthly therapy (which I have awful anxiety over going to and generally need help getting there).

I, too, have living-at-home issues as well, though that's less of a stresser for me considering more than ever in the modern era, a majority of people between 18-35 now live at home with parents.

 

[Summer Rain]

How do you guys cope with these feelings, and do you try to challenge yourself to go into uncomfortable situations? Performance anxiety is a type of social anxiety because it revolves around wanting to please others and be the best. Some people tell me just to go to work and fight through it while others just say to do what makes me happy. I do fight my anxiety a lot and push through it but some situations just become too much.

 

[Touch of Insanity]

I wouldn't say some things trigger it more then others. It's also different for each person. So what could set me off would not set off someone else. Even how people deal with it is differently. It's honestly about trail and error to find out what works for you. For me, when the anxiety starts to even spike a little my whole focus turns towards stopping myself from letting it linger, from letting it take over my life. I have to step away from all the things that could make it worse, and almost reboot myself. It's the only thing that got me through my last year in university.