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...

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mindlost 08/08/2017

So I feel like some of you might be able to relate to this, but it relates to me on a really high stress/anxiety level. Whenever I take a shower, I let my mind wander. And I mean wander as in think about anything and everything since I have no distractions, no obligations, no places to be right then, and nothing to distract me. I'm able to think about all of the things that give me anxiety for the most part, and while I'm in there, since my main focus is to bathe but I have muscle memory and it doesn't require any real focusing, shower time is reflection time for me. And it's gotten to a point where I am afraid to shower now just because I know that I'll get in there and start thinking about everything that stresses me out. And then I try to speed my shower up so I have less time to think and for my mind to wander towards other dark places where demons bring thoughts to my head that give me terrible anxiety, worse than what it starts out to be. Basically, I'm saying I don't look forward to showering because I'm afraid that I'll get out of the shower and my anxiety level will be so much higher than it was before I hopped in, and I'll start having an anxiety attack. This occurs on a daily basis, and I've been afraid of showering for years because I know what it will do to me. No, this is not me saying that I don't shower, I definitely do. I shower once, sometimes twice a day depending on whether I worked that day or not. All I'm saying is that I don't loo forward to them because of my anxiety. Does anyone else relate to this? It can't just be me.

AMC_306 08/09/2017

Personally, I'm almost the opposite. I use bathing and/or showering as an escape from other people. If I feel like I'm on the verge of an attack, I'll usually take a shower so I can be left alone.

Otherwise I really hate morning rituals like putting on make-up and get high anxiety sometimes when I have to brush my teeth. I can't explain why, but it just seems like the very last step you take before having to officially start another day of misery. That sounds kind of dramatic, but that's what anxiety does. Makes everything dramatic.

Maybe you can read while soaking in the tub. You'll still get clean and can distract yourself from your own thoughts. Or play music while in the shower.

mindlost 08/09/2017

Yeah, I can understand from your perspective. I do sometimes play music while I shower because it keeps me from stressing out too much. Maybe I should make that a daily ritual and it can help keep it on the low. I told myself I'd take up reading again, I guess I just need to go out and find a good book that I've been wanting to read or have heard good things about. I'm also about a week and a half away from starting classes again, so I'll have slim chances of being able to read after school starts because of studying and all. I switched from a business major to a biology major (I know, big jump) so I'll need every tutoring session in the universe because the only way I'll get there is with help because I've always been TERRIBLE at science... but I am passionate about what I want to do, so I'll try as hard as I can to get there.

AMC_306 08/10/2017

You can kill two birds with one stone and disect frogs while you're in the shower! Take your mind off your troubles and catch up on your major. They're amphibious, it makes perfect sense.

mindlost 08/10/2017

Lol, so true. I just started on this major though, I spent my entire freshman year at a private university and studied Business. I needed to get out of there because not only were there toxic people, but it was yanking money out of my pocket that I didn't have. I already have huge loans taken out in my name that will forever kill my credit. But I moved to a public school that I should have chosen to be at in the first place... I've dreamt of being a student at this college since I was a freshman in high school. So I finally made the transfer, and I also switched over to a major that I' passionate about. I want to become a Veterinarian someday, and I'll do whatever it takes to get there.

bridgie101 08/11/2017

You have to retrain your mind. Instead of gravitating towards negative thoughts in the shower, which quite frankly get you nowhere (admit it) you have to find a happy place and go there instead. This is what most people would do. The only reason to climb into a wonderful warm shower and then deliberately think about the things that bring you down is schadenfreude. :P (j/k)

What is your happy place? what do you love most? What do you like thinking about? For me, for many years, it was 'going back in time'. i could start myself off walking downa forest road in 1499 wearing a cape and a hood... suddenly I hear galloping hooves from behind. I quickly hide myself in the ferns and..

dot dot dot.

Nowadays it's actually a dream of creating a geodesic glass dome. Okay nuts but who cares (I dont' tell anyone about this). Living in this biodome with trees and a small cob cottage I have made for myself. With the animals and flowers an stuff.

As age changes us, dreams can change. But you own your brain. Find your happy place and make sure you are always in there when you shower. Ok?

mindlost 08/13/2017

This helps, thank you. I haven't heard of finding a place mentally, but it would make sense to. I've already been putting some music on, and it's been helping me a little bit from what I'm most anxious about. But thank you for sharing something you don't normally share with anyone. It says a lot.

JustDave 08/14/2017

It sounds like the issue is not the shower, it's the fact that time in the shower represents quiet time that's fertile ground for what I call "inward spirals". For me, it's the quiet time just before I should be falling asleep. For you, it's the shower. It's interesting because I am at my most creative and least likely to "spiral inward" while in the shower. I guess we are all different. For me, distraction is the key. I need to engage my mind/body in something that keeps my mind off of whatever is triggering me lately. I like the suggestion that you take a bath and do something else to change the routine. Maybe try talk radio instead of music in the shower. Audio books are good, too. Anything to engage your "higher brain" functions. Warm regards. One day we should all get together on an island where people dance all night long and laugh about the absurdity of our lives. :-)

mindlost 08/15/2017

Lol, very true. I pray for a day to come where just every human struggling can no longer have to struggle. But I dream...

1Lovejones 08/15/2017

Think of showering as washing all those demons away! I use shower time as my prayer time or like last night I cried my eyes out in the shower, crying is like taking your soul to the laundromat. I pray it gets better for you

mindlost 08/15/2017

Thank you, I might try that as well.

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