UltimateWorrier
04-02-2014, 06:26 AM
Hi everyone,
I thought I'd sign up for the forum as I've been struggling to cope with my anxiety recently.
I live in the UK, I'm 29 and this has been going on for several years though I'm not sure when it first started or what initially triggered it.
It seems, after I've looked inwards, that my anxiety is related to situations and scenarios involving authority, doing something wrong and being in trouble or being fined heavily for mistakes. None of this has actually happened, but anything involving a situation where authority, rules and financial punishment are combined, such as taxes, for example, scares me rigid. Here's an example - I recently moved home and on the way home from work I thought I saw a speed camera flash. I don't normally speed (as you can probably guess from what I fear, I obey authority as much as possible to avoid 'punishment') but I thought I might be slightly over the speed limit. On getting home I realised that I hadn't changed the address on my car registration document and if I was caught speeding it would be sent to my old address. I instantly thought of scenarios where I was fined mega-money and thrown in jail because I didn't receive notification of the fine. Cue obsessive research into the issue (something I do to make myself feel better, though it often does the opposite), visiting the person who had moved into my old place several times and a huge cycle of worry and panic. In the end, as most things do, it was fine, but I wore myself out stressing about it.
Most of the year I'm a really happy, carefree guy, but when these situations come up I send myself into a cycle of despair and anxiety. I even sometimes worry about parking and the rules that apply to a space! I get panic attacks, stop caring about everything around me and generally suffer in ways that make me feel completely helpless. I always jump to the worst case scenario and, in my head, it might as well have happened even if it hasn't. In general I stress and fret for weeks at a time, stewing in my own misery and affecting everyone around me, not least my wife.
I'm hoping to learn how to cope a bit more. Often I only care about solutions to anxiety when I'm in that state of mind, but I need to better equip myself so I don't panic as much, or look at things realistically. I'm worried that if I don't get over this it'll send me to an early grave.
Here's to, fingers crossed, more positive times.
I thought I'd sign up for the forum as I've been struggling to cope with my anxiety recently.
I live in the UK, I'm 29 and this has been going on for several years though I'm not sure when it first started or what initially triggered it.
It seems, after I've looked inwards, that my anxiety is related to situations and scenarios involving authority, doing something wrong and being in trouble or being fined heavily for mistakes. None of this has actually happened, but anything involving a situation where authority, rules and financial punishment are combined, such as taxes, for example, scares me rigid. Here's an example - I recently moved home and on the way home from work I thought I saw a speed camera flash. I don't normally speed (as you can probably guess from what I fear, I obey authority as much as possible to avoid 'punishment') but I thought I might be slightly over the speed limit. On getting home I realised that I hadn't changed the address on my car registration document and if I was caught speeding it would be sent to my old address. I instantly thought of scenarios where I was fined mega-money and thrown in jail because I didn't receive notification of the fine. Cue obsessive research into the issue (something I do to make myself feel better, though it often does the opposite), visiting the person who had moved into my old place several times and a huge cycle of worry and panic. In the end, as most things do, it was fine, but I wore myself out stressing about it.
Most of the year I'm a really happy, carefree guy, but when these situations come up I send myself into a cycle of despair and anxiety. I even sometimes worry about parking and the rules that apply to a space! I get panic attacks, stop caring about everything around me and generally suffer in ways that make me feel completely helpless. I always jump to the worst case scenario and, in my head, it might as well have happened even if it hasn't. In general I stress and fret for weeks at a time, stewing in my own misery and affecting everyone around me, not least my wife.
I'm hoping to learn how to cope a bit more. Often I only care about solutions to anxiety when I'm in that state of mind, but I need to better equip myself so I don't panic as much, or look at things realistically. I'm worried that if I don't get over this it'll send me to an early grave.
Here's to, fingers crossed, more positive times.