So, I’m dealing with lots of anxiety lately. About money, the future, hitting rock bottom, whatever. But the thing is, I’m not in a position to be anxious about these things. I have a decent paying job with an unlimited contract. I have an appartment, a loving gf, I’m healthy and even if shit hits the fan, my family would happily help me.
Still, I get like panic attacks when I think about some stuff. The fear of my car breaking down, for example, makes me feel like dying, despite being able to buy a new one without problems.
My anxiety feels misplaced. When I walk to my job (because even that’s a luxury I have), I walk past homeless people sleeping on porches, I walk past addicts shooting up etc. and I think ti myself: ‘they are so much worse off, What do I worry about?’.
Years ago I was trapped in a life of crime with very little perspective, and even then I didn’t feel anxious. Now that I have monumentally changed my life around, I worry. It makes no sense to me.
Has anyone else felt this way before? Or ar you still having issues like this? How did/do you deal with it?
Hey comrade!! First of all thanks for being a big contributor and consistent presence to the grad.
I am not a professional nor do I have any real experience with these kinds of techniques, but recently (in the past two weeks or so) I’ve been trying to work on my anxiety through consciously thinking about it.
Instead of fighting my anxiety and telling myself there’s nothing to be worried about, I just consciously tell myself something to the effect of “ok, I am feeling anxious” or “ok this feeling is there”, “that’s fine”, etc… Then I tell myself there is a reason for that anxiousness. And I try to think back and find potential causes for it.
This calms me down. I don’t remember to do it every time but it does work to varying degrees for me. Sometimes less than others.
Great tip. Acknowledging our feelings in the moment can really help. I wish schools would teach some form of mental health class with tips on how to combat anxiety and stuff. It’s just weird that so many of us are feeling strange one way or another but we never get taught how to deal with it.
And remember you don’t ever have to justify being anxious. It never comes from nowhere. Our brains are capable of feeling anxious because having the capability to be anxious is more beneficial than not having that capability.