Why are mornings so hard...

[joseph2001]

Bad. This morning is bad. Worst yet since I can remember. 9 maybe 10. Full on. All the worst case scenarios you can imagine. The worst outcome of every possible path that could unfold ahead of me. This is why I dread mornings. Not sure why they are like this. Sometimes I feel like it's because of some extreme clarity that the morning brings. But that scares the hell out of me. If this is clarity then it validates all the reasons for the anxiety.

Does anyone else have their worst anxiety in the morning? It's running in my head before I wake up so it's already full blown panic.

[Anne1221]

Yes, my anxiety is bad in the mornings. I head straight for some coffee first thing which helps me. I figured out for me it is because I am unfocused at that point of the day. During the day, I am engaged and involved in things and talking to people which lowers my anxiety.

[joseph2001]

A bit better now. Not great. Was able to get it under control with some breathing exercises. Now I feel like I'm recovering from a race. Like my body just ran 5 miles. The rush of anxiety is just exhausting. I think the most difficult part for me is my inability to stop my mind from going down all these "what-if" paths. And of course it thinks the only outcome is the worst case. It's just scary.

[Skippy]

I honestly think it is because we believe that mornings is when your anxiety is going to peak. I've dealt with this for enough years to see the time of day fluctuate. Some months the morning is by far the worst. Sometimes it is at night. Others it is like clockwork for a long period of time where it comes at noon.

Do an experiment. Google "why is anxiety worse in the morning" then replace the word morning with evening, night, afternoon, lunch, noon, etc. You will find all types. It could be something uniquely physical about each of us, but I wager it being that is the time of day we expect it to be.

[Fahrenheit]

Mornings are hard for me, too. Your body actually pumps you with stress hormones to wake you up in the morning, and for those of us who already have anxiety and maybe did not sleep so well, I think the effect of that can be exacerbated. I also usually feel a lot more raw and vulnerable in the morning. Once I get to work and am busy, that usually gets better, but there is often a level of background anxiety that is persistent. I am just more distracted. ;)

What is happening inside your head? You said you are thinking about the 'worst case scenario of paths that could unfold?' Do you think you can train yourself to stop thinking in terms of disaster? I know when I am in an anxiety state (and even when I am not!) I am inclined to look at the world based on what I FEAR will happen, rather than what I would LIKE to happen. That leads to me making decisions to avoid pain, rather than seek happiness. I have tried to turn that around, and I think it has helped - that said, that shift helped because my anxiety lowered enough for me to be able to make that change. When you are in the throws of it, sometimes you just have to do your best and wait it out. Maybe every time your anxiety gives you a worse case scenario, identify what it is you are afraid of and flip it - what would you LIKE to happen? What can you do to pursue that - even if it means taking emotional risks? I found when I was more fear-based, I did not take emotional risks because I framed everything it term of bad things that can happen - and there is always a bad thing that can happen. But if you look at what good could come of your actions, you are empowered to take risk because you see the pay-off is possible, though not guaranteed.

Going of of the above, I also think I lived my live trying to avoid pain and that only caused me more anxiety and depression. When my anxiety and depression showed me that pain is unavoidable, and that even if I always played it safe, emotionally, I would still suffer - and in some instances suffer more, because my suffering would have less meaning - I realized, I might as well take those emotional risks. If the suffering is guaranteed whether you take a risk or not, why not go for the gold? (or at least silver or bronze ;) )

Sorry, I may have gone on a tangent, there.

Regarding the feeling that your anxiety might just be morning clarity, I think that is at best half true. I don't think it is clarity in the sense that your morning thoughts are truthful and trustworthy and an accurate depiction of your situation. However, it may be that in the morning, you feel your feelings the sharpest and most directly, and THAT is a kind of clarity - but that doesn't translate to those feeling of disaster/failure/doom being accurate depiction of your life. Still, you can use that clarity of FEELING to examine where you are emotionally and start working with that once the intensity has calmed down, maybe?

Hope come of this helps. Take care of yourself, and keep us up to date.