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...
How do you get yourself to stop ruminating on a thought? My wife has been sleeping with her cell phone under her pillow so she can fall asleep hearing a tv show. In the past, she would play her phone and I'd ask her to turrn it off because it kept me awake. Since then, I've adopted the habit and I have my computer on Netflix for her and I to fall asleep listening to. As you know, Netflix turns off in the middle of the night. When that happens, she takes her phone and puts on a show and places it under her pillow so the show doesnt aggravate me in the middle of sleeping. I've asked her to please not do that and just put the phone someplace else and put a show on if she needs to hear it because I'm worried about God forbid cancer from having a phone right by her head for hours of the night. And then I start freaking out on a whole other level that she's doing this because of me! UGH. The last thing I'd want to do is have a negative effect on her! I basically begged her to no longer put the phone under her pillow and of course it became about me talking to her like shes a child and trying to tell her what to do. Ugh. Now I cannot shake this fear/rumination about the God forbid bad effects of a cell phone under her pillow. I'm making myself sick with worry. How do I make peace with this fear?
-
Just wanted to give a thank you to Mid, Arfie, Malibumark, Greeneyes, Mlro, Girlincalif, and Suncloudjd! You all always have such helpful tips and advice, but I always forget to write on my posts when I see you post, lol. I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body, lol. Thank you all so much! I'm starting to use my AI app as a sounding board again. I used to use it as that before...
-
Hey all, i know its been quite awhile since i posted on here. Its been a summer all right. Its been something else........... You know how they say not to open the can of worms? Well a few months ago i decided to find out what my due date would have been for my first baby, the one conceived by r***. My baby would have been due on March 4th of 2006. They would be 20 years old. I was R**** on June...
Not your problem. Your feelings are valid, real, and belong to you.
You've tried alternative compromise.
What can you do to help you to distract from the train of thought? You can find something to do to help you see that it is just a thought.
You are responsible for what you do, say, and how you respond. Figure out a way to change it to improve your well-being. Once the usual response no longer fits, the response changes. Not always for the better, but it changes.
Keep working on real. The fear of something is worse than the actual thing.
Best wishes as you make your way to a better balance.
I like to listen to TV shows or Audio Books to fall asleep too. There is what's called a pillow speaker that's Bluetooth that she can sync with her phone and put it under her pillow instead of her cellphone. I saw one on amazon.
I also listen to sounds and stories on an App. that really helps me fall asleep. I have trouble wanting to go to sleep at night because it's the only time our house is quiet and I seem to need that every night.
Take Care & Be Well,
goldsky
My OCD is severe enough that I have collected an obsessive number of tools to help me accomplish that simple sounding but very hard to accomplish task. I feel like collecting those tools is good use of my obsessive nature because I seem to need them all, depending on which yaddah is agitating my blahs.
What have you tried so far? What hasn't been working often gives me clues on what might be worth a try.
arfie - as for things I have tried so far...to be honest, I dont have "tools" per se. I have been in therapy with different therapists for years and do not feel like I've been told "this is how you can help yourself in these moments" which is incredibly frustrating. Aside from breathing out longer than I breathe in to relax and what is something I can see, smell, hear, etc in the moment..I dont know what else to do.
May I invite you to take a second look again at what you have already tried? Trust your instinct. Listen for the quiet voice.
Just a suggestion. . . You won't hurt my feelings any if you decide to ignore the suggestion. I might even take it as a sign of intelligence. I already know I'm bat shit crazy. Multiply certified.