My mind won't calm down

[winry]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has any advice. I've had GAD for ages and am pretty familiar with it.

One problem I have, however, is that my mind is almost *always* working overdrive - either playing parts of a song that I've listened to over and over or just the internal chatterbox of over analysing everything is working at full speed. This is despite my distracting myself with work/relaxation activities.

As a result, I'm physically tense most of the time and slightly on edge - so the negative perspective that comes along with anxiety is therefore really difficult to overcome, and -quite frankly - it does my head in.

Does anyone else have this problem to such a degree?

[daisy84279]

I know what you are feeling winry. My mind never ever calms down. I can't just focus on what I'm doing at the moment. I'm always thinking about other things, and very quickly too. Have you ever seen the movie the Butterfly Affect? If you have, you know the parts of the movie when he reads his journal and sees flashes of memories, one right after the other? That's what my mind always feels like. Just flashes of thoughts and experiences, mostly things in the present, some in the future. And I just can't shake them. I'm also always tense. My muscles are always tight in my neck, shoulders, and back. Lately, I've been getting those adrenaline surges a lot. I had one just a few minutes ago, which is why I decided to come on to the fourm. My hands are still sweaty, and I still feel out of it a little. There is no distracting myself. I can't distrract myself. Meditation doesn't work for me becasue either A: I can't get my mind to calm down or B: I'm afraid it won't work. I hate being so over-analytical. It puts more stress on the body than necessary. But I can't help it. It's like my brain is wired that way. I read into people way too much. Thinking a face a stranger made is becasue they think I'm wierd, or something a co-worker said had to be something bad about me. It's terrible, becasue you feel so trapped in your own mind. I've probaby written way too much. But yes, I do have experiencesthat I think are what you are feeling too.

[jessy]

Yes my mind is a constant chatter , never stops , I'm
Always tense & feel like I wanna take my head off from a bit lol

[winry]

Ahh yes, what both of you are saying is spot on!

daisy84279 - I haven't seen that film but I know what you mean! It's stressful to be constantly analysing things and having all sorts of things flash through your head all at the same time.

I always seem to just have this nervous feeling in my belly that won't go away. You're spot on with the relaxation attempts - I tend to over-analyse what's happening and worry if it doesn't work quickly enough >_>

Whatever happens, my 'worry box' is always full - when one worry is forgotten, another comes to fill its space.

I think something like this is unfortunately going to involve a lot of discipline - for example, putting aside a certain amount of time every day to just sit quietly and clear my mind. I mean, if I do it often enough, I'm sure something positive will happen, right? lol.

[ADD]

Winry, try to do repetition sessions of whatever it is you want occupy yourself with. For example I am a Muslim and we do what's called remembering the All Mighty with our lips and our hearts and we try to do this as much as possible. Without boring you much what I'm trying to tell you is that the more you say something with your lips or in your heart not orally the more you will start to focus on that, it gives it priority. So you should find something you love and repeat it as much as possible and in due time you will find out that the rest of those thoughts will fade away. Remember "Repetition" is key.

[dazza]

With your type of condition, I usually see the following traits in people of the same:

1. perfectionism

Perfection is unrealistic, impractical and debilitating. Too high goals will drive you nuts.
Stop / think / rationalise and then do whatever you need to in a realistic manner.

Just TRY it... you never know until you try. The results can be liberating.

2. outsider

Often, over-thinkers are of an outsider disposition and they reckon they can gain acceptance by others through being super clever.
This is NOT the case...

No-one likes a smart arse, or people that know everything about everything... more often than not, this will push you further away from
any normal social circles.

3. wysiwyg

What you see is what you get. Simply put... if you see a NUT and BOLT, just see the NUT and BOLT. Don't for gawd sakes try to analyse it... like,
what's the screw-thread size? what metal is it? etc.
Not interesting... not useful... not funny. It's just a nut and bolt.

Try it - it's also very liberating.