I’ve suffered from anxiety ever since I can remember, hated school and got badly bullied.
Now into adult years and now I’m a single parent, and I am really struggling to cope with life. I cant stop my obsessive worrying. I wake up each morning with a knot and churning in my stomach, its getting so bad I want to kill myself.
I am worrying about keeping my job because I am off sick now, but cant seem to get it out of my head. Does anyone else suffer from anxiety and obsessive thoughts.
It’s definitely something I’ve dealt with a lot in my life. My brain goes into hyperdrive thinking about stuff and worrying about things. Sometimes I’ve had luck battling it with trying to be in the moment, like trying to truly see things around me, focusing on little details like the texture of my phone if I’m using it. It helps get my mind of the marry go round of anxiety by getting my mind to focus. With acute anxiety attacks I put something cold on the back of neck which helps a lot.
Hey, I understand how horrible anxiety and compulsive worrying feels. I have been struggling greatly these past few weeks with terrible thoughts and fears at all hours of the day, and sometimes there seems to be no relief.
I would consider maybe some psychiatric help and maybe trying medications, as well as therapy, as talking it out helps me a lot, even when it’s just me crying to someone else and letting the thoughts out. I also use the audio recorder on my phone to record myself speaking when there’s no one I can speak to at the moment, so I won’t have to pull out a diary or journal, I can just talk and delete the file if I don’t want it, or keep it and play it back to organize my thoughts. My therapist also taught me a technique that sometimes works for me, which is to sit down, and name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch/feel, etc etc in a similar fashion, with whatever is around you. It helps sometimes to slow my heart down a little bit, and let me focus on just existing in the environment I am in.
I hope you can feel better from these thoughts, and that you feel less alone knowing that there are people out here feeling the same as you. I hope that some of my tips might possibly help you at all, and that you find good coping mechanisms for these intrusive thoughts.
Much love.
Thank you for responding to me, I am on medication, it just seems to be taking a long time to work.
I hope things are better for you today! It seems like you know this way of living isn’t something that can continue forever. I’ve been learning that when we reach that point of desperation, we have to pay attention and admit that our current thinking patterns and behaviors are broken. I finally decided I didn’t want to live miserably for the rest of my life, and I’m accepting the fact that change is going to be a slow, gradual, and courageous process. What’s the alternative–to sink into despair? I don’t want that. I’ve also noticed that people who recognized their own brokenness and decided to get help are the ones who have a fruitful, productive life now. The other type of person becomes more angry, bitter, depressed, and even crazy. I’ve been a victim of unfair circumstances, of things people did to me, of the family mess I was born into without a choice. But I’m not going to let those things continue to victimize me. You don’t have to let the worrying and obsessions ruin your life. Your kid(s) NEED YOU to be free from this! You don’t want them to be a victim of your victimization. Your problems with your peers in the past are a big part of what’s going on inside you now. Can you find someone to talk to? Don’t give up searching!
I have got my sister to talk to, that helps. I have been to counselling before. Its just I get job opportunities that I work hard for, and then my anxiety becomes overwhelming, and I cant cope and I lose jobs over it. Its a lonely place to be in, I know I have to be strong for my son.