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Coping with anxiety
So after several years of living with an 'eating disorder', I have finally realised that what I suffer from is actually an 'anxiety disorder' which exhibits itself with a number of symptoms - one of which is food control.
I am slightly obsessive and a worrier by nature, mild OCD tendencies and as a result I am only comfortable when in strict routines. Ie eating same food on same days of week at the same time, rigid patterns of living, habitual weighing and measuring, and panic whenever the routine is interrupted. I also suffer from catastrophic thinking, always fearing the worst case outcome.
My reaction to any anxiety is to attempt to correct the cause there and then, no matter what the problem is and whether the 'threat' is to me or to a family member.
I realise that the only way out of this is to learn to tolerate, even welcome uncertainty and cope with the emotions which it generates.
So rather than looking for advice, I simply ask - how do you react / cope / deal with uncertainty and anxious thoughts ? I suffer from no more or less problems than the next person - the main difference is my inability to handle them.
Learning how others manage anxiety and worry can only help me develop my own coping mechanisms.
I am slightly obsessive and a worrier by nature, mild OCD tendencies and as a result I am only comfortable when in strict routines. Ie eating same food on same days of week at the same time, rigid patterns of living, habitual weighing and measuring, and panic whenever the routine is interrupted. I also suffer from catastrophic thinking, always fearing the worst case outcome.
My reaction to any anxiety is to attempt to correct the cause there and then, no matter what the problem is and whether the 'threat' is to me or to a family member.
I realise that the only way out of this is to learn to tolerate, even welcome uncertainty and cope with the emotions which it generates.
So rather than looking for advice, I simply ask - how do you react / cope / deal with uncertainty and anxious thoughts ? I suffer from no more or less problems than the next person - the main difference is my inability to handle them.
Learning how others manage anxiety and worry can only help me develop my own coping mechanisms.
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When you wake up each day don't bother setting off the thought process, asking yourself what day is it, what have I got to do today etc. If your still feeling groggy from the sleep, use it and stay quite.
Yes this is definitely part of it.
For me, meditating works. I meditate for 15 minutes a day most days and if I'm really feeling awful then I make sure I do it.
How meditation works is it slows the breathing, when the body takes in more oxygen it releases natural calming chemicals and the more oxygen in the body the heart rate slows down, plus it stops thoughts that are all over the place and calms the mind too. Over time the results are amazing.
I get anxiety but perhaps once every few months and by that I mean a mild feeling of being anxious, and to me that's become normal life. Very used to feeling calm.
A tip I learned from watching a video about anxiety on youtube is that anxiety is caused by thoughts that are buzzing around in the head with nowhere to go, for example if someone was stressed out and thinking over and over their room needed to be tidied, they'd tidy the room and the thoughts would relax.
But if the anxiety is about something that can't happen like worrying someone will die or get hurt, then the thoughts can't become something, so this woman said take a piece of paper, I personally opened notepad and write down everything that is in your mind even if it makes no sense, even if it's scary and swear and let it all out.
So anytime I feel anxious I do that and at the end just close it without saving, what happens is it moves all those thoughts around and it can feel terrible but if you're already feeling terrible but keeping it inside, it doesn't matter then after I've done it and had enough I stop, then a while after that my mood changes and I feel more clear again.
If you have something going round and round your head like a problamatic dilemma just write your conclusion down. You'll be surprised how short it is and there will be "no need" to keep "rehearshing" it over and over again.
Develop a quiet "action without idea" stance. Realising how much thought is a hinderance most of the time.
OP if you want to have a go I can recommend Headspace, it's 10mins a day for 10days which is free and then you can pay to go further should you want to. It is based on mindfulness which is shown to help with anxiety and depression. https://www.headspace.com
FP - yes I have received therapy which has helped bring me to an awareness of anxiety being the root cause , and disordered eating a symptom. I struggle to use that increased awareness to change behaviour's though.
Interesting comments on "living in the moment" and mindfulness - I find rumination a big problem and have explored ways to attemt to concentrate on the present moment - all very well in theory but anxious thoughts never fully disappear.
Hence my attempts to understand how others "live with" the anxiety. Headspace sounds interesting and worth exploring.
It's not about "concentration". Awareness of inattention is attention.
Part of therapy is to help you through an effective change though - did you not go that far? Changing a mindset like anxiety takes time to do and you're rewriting the book on how you react.
How others live with it is that they just don't get caught up in the fear. The fear isn't overwhelming enough to stop them going about their lives IYSWIM?
Still going through it FP - for the last couple of weeks I've made small changes ( not weighing ) and attempting to live with the uncertainty of not looking to the scales for reassurance - noticing the 'fear factor' but living with it ( trying to compare it to the andrenaline rush prior to a roller coaster ride ). Such a small change but it's a start - I wish I was able to do more though
I have the view, if by your decision you have an effect on an outcome, its important
If your decision/ideas are irrelevant why bother to worry