Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
Hello Everyone -
I have been looking for somewhere to chat with people who understand what anxiety does to a person - this looks like a good place to start!
To say a bit about myself, I am married with two children. We recently moved out of the country on a temporary assignment. I have always been a worrier - stress about the small things. But since the move, I stress about everything and feel like anxiety is taking over my life.
Anything that happens, I take the situation and draw it out to its worst (unlikely) possible conclusion and then, depending on the situation, I worry about that conclusion coming true for days, weeks or even months.
I wake up during the nights in a panic, unable to fall back asleep. Being tired doesn't help my ability to deal with things. I feel hungry in that my stomach will growl, but I often feel so jittery and anxious that the idea of food is unappealing.
My situation here is that I am often alone for 8+ hours a day M-F while my husband is at work and my kids are at school. We only have one car, and while I can drop my husband at work and be free to drive, there are few places for me to go. I know that sitting in a quiet empty house with nothing to entertain my mind other than worrying is probably the worst thing in the world I can be doing. I have tried to make friends (and do have a few), but my options really are limited. Reading, housekeeping, and hobbies that I can do around the house are not enough to keep me distracted from my fears and anxieties.
I don't know how I got like this and I hate it about myself. It is exhausting and making me a person I don't want to be. I hide it from everyone - so everyone always thinks I am great. On occasion, if something starts to bother me enough, I might share it with my husband, but he often has no idea why I am upset and feels I am overreacting or trying in a backhanded way to just be complaining about the move.
We don't speak the language here, which is additionally isolating and the fact that I cannot effectively ask for help - whether it is finding something at the grocery store or calling the dr. with a question makes me all the more stressed. I feel anxious about my children here - that I am less able to protect them because I don't understand what might exactly be safe or dangerous the way I was able to at home. This is probably one of my greatest sources of anxiety. We are actually in a safe place - but again - I feel like I can't protect them from what I don't know.
I'm just so tired - my mind and body are exhausted. The rest of my family is happy and while I can often be happy too when we are together doing something and having fun, the second I wake up in the middle of the night or alone during the day - its back to the worry, stress and anxiety.
So what do we all do to find some relief?
I have been looking for somewhere to chat with people who understand what anxiety does to a person - this looks like a good place to start!
To say a bit about myself, I am married with two children. We recently moved out of the country on a temporary assignment. I have always been a worrier - stress about the small things. But since the move, I stress about everything and feel like anxiety is taking over my life.
Anything that happens, I take the situation and draw it out to its worst (unlikely) possible conclusion and then, depending on the situation, I worry about that conclusion coming true for days, weeks or even months.
I wake up during the nights in a panic, unable to fall back asleep. Being tired doesn't help my ability to deal with things. I feel hungry in that my stomach will growl, but I often feel so jittery and anxious that the idea of food is unappealing.
My situation here is that I am often alone for 8+ hours a day M-F while my husband is at work and my kids are at school. We only have one car, and while I can drop my husband at work and be free to drive, there are few places for me to go. I know that sitting in a quiet empty house with nothing to entertain my mind other than worrying is probably the worst thing in the world I can be doing. I have tried to make friends (and do have a few), but my options really are limited. Reading, housekeeping, and hobbies that I can do around the house are not enough to keep me distracted from my fears and anxieties.
I don't know how I got like this and I hate it about myself. It is exhausting and making me a person I don't want to be. I hide it from everyone - so everyone always thinks I am great. On occasion, if something starts to bother me enough, I might share it with my husband, but he often has no idea why I am upset and feels I am overreacting or trying in a backhanded way to just be complaining about the move.
We don't speak the language here, which is additionally isolating and the fact that I cannot effectively ask for help - whether it is finding something at the grocery store or calling the dr. with a question makes me all the more stressed. I feel anxious about my children here - that I am less able to protect them because I don't understand what might exactly be safe or dangerous the way I was able to at home. This is probably one of my greatest sources of anxiety. We are actually in a safe place - but again - I feel like I can't protect them from what I don't know.
I'm just so tired - my mind and body are exhausted. The rest of my family is happy and while I can often be happy too when we are together doing something and having fun, the second I wake up in the middle of the night or alone during the day - its back to the worry, stress and anxiety.
So what do we all do to find some relief?
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My day...today...misplaced my debit card...didn't realize it until I got to the register after shopping to a full cart. Used a different debit card and pulled apart everything looking for missing debit card before I left parking lot. Got home, dropped keys. So now I have a missing debit card, missing keys. A full cartload to unload and put away. I got everything put away.Dumped purse for a...
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I don't really know how to label this but I having a rough week and I can't say it's one thing.... I have a lot on my plate which is nothing new and I try to cope in many positive ways and do but I still have my moments.My kids more so my daughters talk to me about everything which I know it's cause of comfort and we are close.... however I really struggle with the venting about their dad which...
We were affiliated with a military base, so things got better when I got involved with the chapel and a women's group there. I went on USO trips and put my oldest in school where I met other moms. Most of them knew English and wanted to use it with me!
I also met a lady at an English speaking church who became a good friend of mine. She was a counselor who ended up forming an anxiety support group that I joined that REALLY helped. I'm so glad I forced myself to get out because I never would have met her otherwise.
I took time to read some books on anxiety and panic attacks which helped to teach me how to talk myself down when I felt a panic or anxiety attack coming on. Medication works too. :)
Does any of this sound helpful? I'm sorry if I went on too much but I really do understand a lot of what you're dealing with and want you to know that some of what you're going through is normal. Just don't let the anxiety continue to overtake you and your ability to enjoy your days - that's when you know it's good to get some help. Prayers and hugs to you!
Try something new I thought of. When you feel anxious write your worries down on a piece of paper and put them in a jar. Then weeks later take a look at them and see how many of them were actually valid. Betcha you'll be surprised at how many were not worth the worry. I just started it and in a way it makes me feel good I have a place to go with them and don't have to bear them.
To kind of touch on something your said JeffinWi, while I have not had a worry jar exactly, I have journaled some of my fears and anxieties, and it is interesting to go back and read things I was worried about 6 months ago and see how nothing ever really happened that was worth all the stress.
Anxiety is such a horrible waste of time and worse, potential happiness.
1 losing my job
2 freaking out if my wife left me.
3 my one kid wanting nothing to do with me.
and other stuff, none of which happened.
But then again worrying about my brother didn't stop him from dying of cancer. yep, worrying doesn't do jack for you.
In other words, you can find this experience to give your brain and body something to focus on "in the moment". The more work you give your self to make it happen, the better you will feel.
I have been overseas with family. We took trips to places with just a cooler of food and drink and local currency, and met a lot of interesting characters, learned about local places. Other people had lived there for years, never leaving their comfort zone...could have been living anywhere for that kind of experience.
I have friends who move to different countries frequently for job purposes, and they learn the words for help, thus opening up new friendships.
You got this, you can do this!