anxiety and guilt

[theycallmedree]

Hey everyone! I'm new here. So much of my anxiety stems from guilt over things I've done in the past. Does anyone else have this problem? I had a horrible episode over something to do with my internship at the beginning of May. I don't want to go into a ton of detail, but my supervisor told me that what I had done was fine and not to worry about it. I made an honest mistake, and the average person probably wouldn't have worried about it, but I couldn't stop feeling guilty about it. I didn't eat or sleep for a few days and had panic attacks all night long.

I'm now in therapy and on medicine, but the whole situation opened a whole new can of worms. I keep thinking about situations where I had made similar mistakes YEARS ago and having anxiety over them as well. One thing that I really struggle with is confidentiality - Should I have opened my mouth and said what I said? Should I have told my mom that a family friend and her husband are trying to have a baby? Should I have told my friends that a girl we hated in high school had plastic surgery? I go to school in a town with a big entertainment industry, and I feel like I can't gossip about celebrities because I know more about them than the average person (even though I have no personal connection to them).

My therapist says that I am really hard on myself, and I think that's probably true. The situation with my internship has spilled into my current job. I am so scarred from the last problem that I am hyper aware of everything I do at work. I ask my supervisor a million questions because I am afraid of making a mistake. I don't have the confidence to do anything by myself!

I've been on the medicine (Lexapro) for three weeks now. I can't wait until I'm finally adjusted to it!

[hopeNfaith88]

Yes, i can relate. The first thing you should do is jus let it go. Its the past - i know it may be embarassing or upsetting to think back on the event, but make sense of what happened. You had reasons for what you did. Or maybe you dont even have a reason to feel guilty (dont know situation so i cant shed insight). I do know that the past is the past. If theres a way toapologize to any people you mayve hurt, do that. I stole my best friends girlfriend a few years ago and she cheated on my bestfriend with me. We stayed together for a couple years and she cheated on me. Go figure. I always felt bad and missed my best friend because we stopped talking since then and i was told to go fuck myself. Recently we connected on facebook. I apologized and explained everything that happened and just how sorry i was. It was hard to face them but it really lifted a weight off me that i didnt even know was there. It was awesome. And we stopped tlaking after that since we have different interests now but it was like closure for me and it was wonderful.

If you can do anything to find peace over what you feel guilty about, then do so. Then afterwards (and if theres nothing you can do) put it behind you. We cant go back and change things, but you can take something from it. Learn from whatever you did and make a positive change to yourself. Then, theres no reason to have guilt because as a result it triggered you to make a hange and now youre a better person.

It doesnt hurt to talk to someone like a close friend or therapist. To vent and get some feedback. Itll be alright :)

[GadGal]

Remember what your feeling guilty for you weren't totally feeling guilty for at the time you were doing it, don't let your feelings after the situation change everything. Whatever happens, happens.. And when's it's over it's over. Just relax a bit stop looking into everything because i can assure you the person on the other end of the situation probably does not think twice about it.
Once youstart to let guilt control everything you won't know if what your feeling is right or wrong. Because the guilt is tricking you, stick to what your doing at the time and if you make a mistake so what your not perfect and it's over apologizing doesn't do shit other than probably annoy the other person! X