Excitement and optimism followed by severe anxiety

[Alexandra Rodriguez]

Hi everyone,

First time posting here so hoping someone can relate or any advice. I've dealt with anxiety most of my life and go through phases where its unbarable and impacting my life, and others where it's manageable- i'm sure this is the case for most.

I'm currently going through a pretty rough/challenging time in my life and despite a LOT of work and effort into trying turn things around it's been 10 months of no success.Today though something great happened and I was left feeling incredibly excited (almost elated) and optimistic. Things felt very promising. Not long after though I started to have doubts, followed by heart racing, tight chest, non-stop worry, and pessimism that things might not work out. The it's almost like the promising conversation I had never happened and feels like a big blue. I realized today that this happens all the time. When I do get excited about something (rare) it's quickly followed by intense worry. It's incredibly frustrating. I dont want to be pessimistic and it's like I can't ever be happy or hopeful for more than a short period of time. Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas on how to manage?

[gypsylee]

Hi Alexandra and welcome :)

Yeah I can relate to this. When you're anxious for so long the line between excitement and anxiety becomes blurred. They aren't that different even for "normal" people but for us anxious people they can quickly go from one to the other. Then you freak out because you think you should be happy but you're not, which adds to the anxiety. Then you start worrying about all the bad stuff that might happen! I've had enough experience with anxiety now that I've learned not to pay so much attention to it. So if something good happens and I feel anxious rather than happy/excited, I don't think too much of it. I know that eventually when I settle down a bit, I will feel good about whatever it is. In other words, I don't expect "normal" reactions so much anymore, which actually stops the anxious vicious cycle.

I hope that makes sense :)

Gypsy x