Can't leave my apartment on weekends

[momotime]

Hi All,

Overall I feel like I've been dealing with my anxiety pretty well, but I've noticed that in the past few weekends I've had a difficult time leaving my apartment.

The weather's been absolutely beautiful and I always want to go outside to exercise or run errands, but I just start getting nervous about leaving. This also makes me late to weekend activities, since I have such a hard time convincing myself to leave when I have commitments to get to. I get angry at myself at the end of the day because I feel like I didn't manage my time as I would have liked.

Has anyone else ever felt this way on the weekends? How have you dealt with the fear? I don't know what's stopping me from going through my door. Going to work during the week is so automatic to me I don't have a problem then.

[Kuma]

Hi All,

Overall I feel like I've been dealing with my anxiety pretty well, but I've noticed that in the past few weekends I've had a difficult time leaving my apartment.

The weather's been absolutely beautiful and I always want to go outside to exercise or run errands, but I just start getting nervous about leaving. This also makes me late to weekend activities, since I have such a hard time convincing myself to leave when I have commitments to get to. I get angry at myself at the end of the day because I feel like I didn't manage my time as I would have liked.

Has anyone else ever felt this way on the weekends? How have you dealt with the fear? I don't know what's stopping me from going through my door. Going to work during the week is so automatic to me I don't have a problem then.

Have you tried to push yourself somewhat beyond your comfort zone? Maybe start with something small, like going for a run in your neighborhood, for a half hour? Or do a nearby errand that will take only an hour? And maybe "force" yourself to do this even if it makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable. And then afterward, take a few minutes to think about the fact that, before you did this, you were worried about it and nearly did not do it. But then after you did it, it turned out -- as you know deep inside it would -- just fine. Sometimes we are able to address this sort of problem by pushing ourselves, incrementally, beyond our comfort zones, rather than "giving in" to the anxiety.

[sae]

Have you tried to push yourself somewhat beyond your comfort zone? Maybe start with something small, like going for a run in your neighborhood, for a half hour? Or do a nearby errand that will take only an hour? And maybe "force" yourself to do this even if it makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable. And then afterward, take a few minutes to think about the fact that, before you did this, you were worried about it and nearly did not do it. But then after you did it, it turned out -- as you know deep inside it would -- just fine. Sometimes we are able to address this sort of problem by pushing ourselves, incrementally, beyond our comfort zones, rather than "giving in" to the anxiety.

This is the very thing I have been doing with slow but steady success. Pushing through the unsettling discomfort gradually decreases each time. Just take it slow. I had a rough mini vacation last week, but after it was all said and done I only went back home to check on things twice in 5 days. I didn't stray further than I could drive in a couple hours and eventually wound up carrying the cord to my fryer in my purse to keep from stressing over whether or not I left it on. Nonetheless it was a successful trip and I actually had a good 4 hour sleep the last night I was away.
You got this ;)