worried about dumb things

[Jsay31]

Ok...sometimes when I am having some anxiety I am worried about passing out in public from it. I am sometimes worried about getting my hair cut cuz I have to sit in front of someone for so long. This has happened countless times. I sometimes feel like I will not be able to go to the store anymore cuz my anxiety level has gotten to bad. These, for me, always go away after a few days or maybe a week or two. I will also be nervous while I stand in a grocery line cuz people are right there and i can't get away if I need to. This has also happened countless times. When these things go away i am not nearly as nervous around people. I know how I bring my anxiety on. I think about things that have bothered me in the past and if I think about to many bad things I start to freak out and I feel like shit. I need to stop doing this type of thing but I seem to just do it automatically. I will dwell on something that happened to me a long time ago and will just really introvert on and after doing this a few different times it just makes me feel really angry and hatefull towards god and the world. This has went on many many times and is the reason I have had these panic attacks and anxiety for a few years now. It seems like whenever these stop....(the panic attacks)....I go right back to introverting and it happens again. I have done this countless times and it seems to be an endless cycle with me. I am getting it under control though. I have stopped introverting as much....mostly cuz the last one I had was a real doozie of an attack. I swore I would never introvert agian. It really caved my mind in pretty good. Anyway...it's late...more on this later!

[tinted]

it sounds a bit like you have social anxiety.i have it,can't go to get a hair cut,can't go into a store because i m scare of paying for the item,i m scared that the cashier will talk to me or think that i m going to steal something.i tend to over think things,over and over again.

i use to do that,avoid things so that i wouldn't get panic attacks ,which doesn't work.it usually is a kind of cycle.

[marsgirl]

Hi Jsay31 and tinted, yeah, i tend to over-think things too. Most time I am OK, and confident and friendly with ppl,... but every once in a while when i am unconfident or shy or unsure of myself.... when i am out socially at the shops or anything...I start to feel ppl are watching me and I feel very self-conscious. It certainly sounds like a form of SOCIAL ANXIETY - my doc diagnosed me with this and the anti-depressants helped a bit though I am feeling a bit self-conscious again and wonder if the meds are no longer working for me - this is why i am here on this forum as the ANXIETY AND INSECURITY is coming back...but yeah, thats is how i used to feel. Have you tried meds?? MG X

[JayUhdinger]

This rumination or thinking in a loop is a pretty annoying downward spiral way of thinking. I recommend you ask yourself if these thoughts are helpful. Do they help you in any way?

If you write your thoughts down you will see the same thoughts come up over and over and you come to the same conclusions over and over again. Whenever you become aware of your thinking in a loop, just think about it one more time and make a plan what you do next and that's it. That's the end of the story. You did everything you could to get the best out of the situation and now you put your plan into action and don't have to think about it anymore.

Often this thinking involves different kinds of uncertainty or factors we can't influence. That's fine as well. We simply have to accept that life is determined by so many factors we have no control over that uncertainty is simply a big part of life.

If all this doesn't help make some time for thinking in a loop. Simply reschedule your worries. So you can be worry free and whenever you start worrying again you just say "STOOP! I worry for 20 minutes after lunch but not now!"

You are not your thoughts and feelings and they come and go. It is up to you if you hold on to them or not! All the best for you!

[Anxiety beater]

Hi there - on a positive note, you have good insight, you recognise you are 'introverting' as you put it! One solution to this is to get your mind busy doing something else - no matter what anyone says about multi-tasking, our brains really can't hack it, they can only really completely focus on one thing at a time. Not sure what you're into, but try finding something else for your mind to focus on, ideally something creative - just a thought.