Worrying about people dying

[Wahnsinnige]

Hello everyone^^
I have some general problems with self-esteem, anxiety and perfectionism, and I believe they mostly stem from the abusive relationship I was in for two years.
I feel on-edge a lot, stress myself out ("get really high grades", "get a job", "do all these millions of projects you've set out for yourself", etc) and worry about lots of things.
Anyway, the reason I signed up here is because there's a probably irrational worry that's been eating me up that I can't shake. When I was young, whenever someone was late, I would start to briefly worry if something bad had happened to them (of course, that was never the case). I've never actually lost anyone close before, and I guess it's somewhat of a fear.
Well, now, I have a good friend whom I really like. He lives in another country, so we only have contact online. He's as addicted to the internet as I am, so I see him on Facebook and stuff quite a bit.
But I haven't seen any trace of him online in the last five days and I can't stop worrying that something bad's happened to him. He leads a pretty safe and healthy life; it's not like he goes out and does dangerous things. If it were someone else, I wouldn't think anything of it and I likely would not assume that something horrible had happened, because that's really not much evidence to go off. But I can't stop worrying, and I keep checking around the internet to see if I can find any trace of him being online so that I know he's indeed alive and well, and even check his friends' profiles to make sure they haven't posted anything about an accident or something. Then I feel bad because I feel like I'm stalking him, but that's a different issue, I guess.
Well... okay, I guess, one, does anyone else do this? And two, do you have any advice on this issue?

[krayziee]

I also worry about myself dieing Anytime soon but also about my parents! It sucks..

[Wahnsinnige]

Yeah, it does! How do you deal with it?

[KatLT]

i always worry about the same thing. i think it really fuels my anxiety attacks

[Shepard]

I used to worry about my loved ones passing away all the time, until my I lost my Dad suddenly to a heart attack. Then I realized that worrying about them all the time wasn't going to keep them around longer. Letting go of that fear was freeing, I felt a weight lifted.

I can, however, certainly understand worrying if you have not seen or heard from someone you cared about for so many days..that's pretty normal if you ask me.

[ashley27e]

This has been my anxiety recently. It's awful... it has beaten me down recently. I just can't seem to shake it.

I lost my 18 year old cat last year. It was devastating, he was a childhood pet. After spending day in and day out with a pet for your entire life, it's such a huge loss. If it hadn't been for my mom, I would have never gotten through it. So then I thought... well, what happens if I lose her or my dad - who will help me through that?! And so, this has been the thought in my head for weeks. Cannot shake it. Even though I know worrying won't solve anything, you have to just appreciate people while you have them... the fear of how I will ever cope with that loss won't leave my mind.

I'm on Celexa... normally it works, but right now I am miserable. I think lack of sleep might be a part of it. But not all of it. I've even talked about it with my parents. They both don't understand why I worry about things that haven't happened yet. And also they tell me, that if anything ever happened - extended family would be there for me. That should help... but it doesn't make the anxiety go away.

[Wahnsinnige]

Hmm, I guess it's good to know that other people have this too^^
Sorry to hear about your losses though.
I guess it's pretty hard to get rid of anxiety like that... although that just makes you scared all the time instead of appreciating your time with them.
My problem with worrying -- about anything -- is that it doesn't matter how unlikely the thing is, or how much evidence there is to suggest that it's not so; if it is still a physical possibility, no matter how small a chance, I'll still just go insane worrying about that minuscule chance...