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...
Not financially, though it may get to that point. I'm a busy person. I work my ass off every day, work 14 hours a week on freelance, then have a full-time job. I have a family and a son who just turned three. My husband is afflicted with depression and currently going through an 'episode' that's lasting weeks. He doesn't work, but we're trying to get him there. Yesterday, a culmination of things caused me to go into a panic attack, which led to another, and another, and another. I think I went through about seven before finally shutting down and passing out in the am. I woke up and had a panic attack, then something my husband said as he was trying to make me feel better sent me in another one. I'm feeling *better* right now, but it's been a trying twenty four hours. (I have never had it this frequent, it's usually one and done, twice if I'm especially unlucky)
I can't seem to stay on top of my responsibilities, as well as take care of my family and my life. I know that I put myself here by the choices I've made, but I'm suffocating. A 'friend' was going to help us get a reference for my husband and is now lecturing me on his sleeping habits (he has insomnia, and would need to work later in the day). His sister is trying to 'help' with getting my work (I write books) out there, but she's about as useful as a NN magnet. She also expects us to go out of our way to meet with her and her family, and has never once come over to our place or driven to see us.
I'm feeling that, yes, we've got problems of our own, but everyone around us is toxic. I hate that I have to put 99% into relationships and have to feel grateful for the 1% I get back. It's been that way my entire life, possibly because I'm endlessly giving and generous to someone in my social circle. People seem to resent me for it, even if they benefit.
There's nowhere else online that I can post this without it coming back to bite me, so sorry about the rant.
Any suggestions on what to do? Please be nice, this is my first post.
-Exhausted parent/freelancer/worker/writer/anxious persons
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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...
Congratulations on finding the courage and wisdom to reach out for support before you collapse from the effort of juggling all those proverbial balls. I'm exhausted just from reading all that. Steadying support while you figure out how to fine tune the equation before it escalates. Financial instability is only one of the horrific places it can escalate to if left unchecked.
My suggestion is that you let this step settle into your psyche before you do anything else. I like small bytes and long chews and admitting out loud that I am over-extended is a pretty big byte, all by itself. Expanding my trust network is another pretty big byte. Taking the time to watch where those two steps might lead helps me keep my steps more cohesive.
But that is only a suggestion and you won't hurt my feelings if you didn't understand a word of that suggestion. Every case is unique and there is no suggestion that works for everybody.
Gentle support while you find what works for you. Welcome.
Fine thing it is that you are not actually at the point of a financial breakdown. And many of us have experienced what you describe of your own personal situation. I can sense how overwhelming the matter is for you, and I feel especially sensitive to your husband's struggles; this is an emotionally tense situation for him as well.
Could it be that your arousal of anxiety is met by not staying fixed on your personal guidelines? I suggest so because professional writers are very observant people. Ordinarily a profession such as this is geared towards making something hard or harder into something that's easier to understand. So you have to keep steady correspondence to your own specific ideas of how to pull through the dense issues.
I feel that you have good common sense to take on your responsibilities, and the random doubts are due to listening to what others perceive as what's best for you. Probably these friends mean well, a complementary deficit, however, because you may then be easily tempted to bypass your own good judgment; not good.
So I personally feel like it is the additional outside interference of others' issues that causes you to think and feel the overflow of traffic inside of your own thoughts. I hope for you to use your own motor system to articulate what is best for your family. Focusing too strongly on the standards and recommendations of other parties belittles your own performance, and this is where the greater risk to keep control outbreaks your anxiety. You are falling into fiber tracts left by how others are attempting to think for you. And this is causing distress, difficulty thinking, and it's not easy to relax.
Perhaps it's time for you to annoy folks by telling them to back-off. :-)
I do hope for you a relaxed and comfortable day.
Keep journal writing as well. There are some things better kept in a private (friends view if you wish) rather than public post.
Welcome to DS!
Welcome to DS! I’m very sorry for all you are going through.
I hope you will be encouraged by being here and you will feel the support you need.
Whenever I am going through something, venting through writing down my feelings on my journal always works for me. I choose to write instead of talking to people and after I vent I felt good. I hope it will work for you too. I pray that things will go well with you and your family. I hope to hear from again. God bless.
I'm new here too. I want to say a few things.
1) Compartmentalize what you can actually do in a day. What is a realistic amount that I can do? Don't try to be the best at everything, if your juggling a thousand things, just do what you can, well. Not the best, just do it average. You'll be surprised how few people will notice the change. You sound like someone who is extremely good at what they do. Just pair it all back a bit, no one will tell. This will free time up for yourself
2) You sound like you are putting a huge amount of energy into everything but yourself. As a fellow anxiety sufferer I find it hard to be selfish as I can see this meaning others might suffer if I pull back the energy. But you have to ask yourself, I'm a superhero to all these people, but who is actually looking after me? If the answer is no one. Then you must be selfish. Take time to look after yourself. Everyday, 10 - 15 me time.
Hope it helps.
Phil