How often are people anxious

[Zoe Girl]

Maybe I am just not aware how often people are anxious, then I am more anxious thinking that I am the only one being stupidly anxious.

Tomorrow I open a camp that I took over with 1 1/2 weeks notice. Lots of things were done ahead so I think we are okay, but now I am totally anxious about the shopping. I really didn't want to spend my entire weekend dealing with this so I am going to WalMart to get materials (already shopped at the recycle store for teachers and Target). There are some things I need to order on Amazon, however we have no clue how many kids we are getting. I am not anxious about getting 170 kids on the correct buses or managing the program, just that I may make a mistake with shopping.

I also am doing much better in my job now that I have a very mild anxiety med and use it for paperwork. Yes paperwork. I have literally spent decades trying to manage the paperwork and details of life, just sending a card and gift on time or balancing a checkbook. I have talked it through with counselors, over-used my friends, and then had all the impact of not handling things as well as I could. I was doing pretty good until the divorce/foreclosure/bankruptcy of course.

Anyone else have weird anxieties?

[razz]

Not weird anxieties but the usual ones that I expect to have before any new event or activity. I find that it helps me work through all the variables that might occur and helps me anticipate some solutions. Then I let it go and see what unfolds.

I could not imagine life without some anxieties to deal with life's challenges. It helped me work through what I would need in income, a new home under new circumstances, how to mix and mingle with new neighbours. I search out and prepare solutions to resolve the challenges, some work, some don't but I let it all go after a while.

[Tammy]

I’ve had two seasons of adjustment disorder - both having to do with big career changes. Both lasted about 6 months. Both times it was hard to concentrate and keep my home and desk organized. Both times I recovered and returned to my typically organized life.

It’s no fun.

[dado potato]

A guy who was going to roast a pig for a fund raiser had a totally sleepless night, anxious that somebody might burgle the pig the night before the fundraiser. Small town. No crime. But the anxiety was over the possibility that a new criminal element could appear!

[catherine]

I get nervous when I start a new project, especially if I haven't worked with the client before, but I feel the I should be nervous. My opinion is if I'm not nervous I'm not giving the job the attention it deserves--if I were to be completely at ease when starting a brand new project, that would smack of arrogance. I try to make my nerves work for me--they put me in high alert, and when I'm nervous, I usually do a better job.

But I'm not generally anxious. My best friend in high school told me I'd never have a heart attack, because I was so laid back all the time. I'm still pretty much that way. But that doesn't mean I never get worried or anxious.

[messengerhot]

Maybe, its normal to have a mild anxiety but too much of it is quite disturbing. I tend to worry about certain things once in a while too.

[Zoe Girl]

Dado, I had to laugh. My brother invites me out to Iowa for pig roasts every year (I am vegetarian), but I don't think he gets anxious.

My sister has a lot of anxiety, a few medications and regular therapy to help with it. I did tell her once that some anxiety is good. Have you ever gone to a party given by someone with no anxiety at all. They are likely to have no chips and not care that much. Some does make me prepare better, however I tend towards obsessive thoughts so it is too much in some cases. It has been worse this year because when I am at the point when I just need to talk something through which will both calm me down and lead to better decisions I have called the boss that does the exact opposite of anything helpful. I still need to talk to him but maybe this year I can find a different person for the 'talk through' part at least.

[Gardenarian]

I wouldn't say I get anxious planning things. It's more in my head - just concern that I tick off all the boxes on my to-do list.

I think of anxiety as a more physical thing, how you feel on a crowded overheated subway that just broke down.

[Float On]

I always get anxious when there is an unexpected bump under my kayak. I've convinced myself that some day a dead body will float up next to me.
I know what I'll do...call 911 with my location and stay with 'it'. Make a statement. But that doesn't stop me from having a full body shiver every time there is a bump. Usually it's a log just floating below the surface....but someday.....

[iris lilies]

zoe, i think it is clear that your anxiety is part of your mental illness and it interferes in major ways with your life. Hence, it is good that you get treatment that includes drugs that help you. It is so great to hear from you that you are able to mitigate stressful situations with low doses. What a positive step this is, you seeking treatment and following dr’s orders as well as modulating the dosages you take. Really a big step forward!

As far as my own “anxiety” I do remember, decades ago, learning that a bit of anxiety is a good tool. Like others above have mentioned, ramping up anxiety to take on new things like academic tests resulted in better outcome. The “anxiety” caused me to focus on the test, banish distractions, walk around circulating blood in my brain and to think about possible test questions. It made me hyper sensitive to the task at hand.

Prior to that I was laid back and come-what-may about tests and did not do as well.

But that is not clinical anxiety, it is a self regulated state and as such is a useful tool, not harmful.

[herbgeek]

I'd like to make the distinction between situation-specific nervousness and generalized anxiety. I have often, and continue to experience situation specific nervousness (ie before public speaking, a big meeting etc). That extra energy is helpful, as a number of people have mentioned, to focus on dealing with the situation at hand. What is new to me, and most disconcerting, is generalized anxiety. Its not related to anything specific. It appears to be energy I pick up from other people, because when I sit down with it and examine it, there is rarely anything to do with me or what /I/ need to be doing. When I am around people in distress, I find I am also anxious when I get home. I have a hard time getting rid of this anxious energy, even when I intellectually know it isn't me.

[ApatheticNoMore]

yea hearing "a little bit of anxiety is helpful" is about like saying "a little bit of depression is helpful". Uh whatever is that about. Whatever degree nerves working for me is probably greatly outnumbered by them being a major inner factor working against me.

For me it's social anxiety that can spread around situations and become general anxiety, agoraphobia etc..

Mind you I think I mask well and don't necessarily come across that way in person, it's mostly a lot of inner pain and other negative consequences.

[Teacher Terry]

I was always able to manage my anxiety with no problem as it was situationally induced. Then at 50 during menopause developed a different type and without a low dose pill would not have been able to work. Found out about 5 years later before my mom died that it runs in my family about menopause time . Tried twice after retiring to go off it and it didn’t go well. Thankfully I was able to recognize it on my own due to my training.

[Zoe Girl]

First of all thank you Iris, that was very sweet. It is a challenge but I made it through another day! Today was a HUGE whopper.

Herbgeek, if you are empathic to any extent (more than just having empathy) then an important part of staying sane is recognizing what it yours and what isn't. I went through a time when I really hated my body and being female, and then realized there was a surge of politics that was affecting (against planned parenthood and others). I had not hated my body before so it felt very weird. I recognized it as not mine and then shifted my influences which helped.

I also never appeared to have an anxiety issue, my sister did for a long time. Then I found that around the beginning of menopause it was definitely starting or increasing to a point I really needed to deal with it.

[herbgeek]

For those with anxiety that started @ menopause, is this just a temporary thing that eventually gets better, or is this a new normal? Scary for me, as I've mostly been rational and not subjected to hormonal mood swings.

[iris lilies]

For those with anxiety that started @ menopause, is this just a temporary thing that eventually gets better, or is this a new normal? Scary for me, as I've mostly been rational and not subjected to hormonal mood swings.
Relax, you may well sail through menopause just fine.
I had no hormonal anxiety or much else of note, really. I did have heart palpatations which I tied to coffee. Gave up coffee for 18 months, then went back to it and all is well.

[Teacher Terry]

New normal for me as it was for my mom and aunt

[Zoe Girl]

Relax, you may well sail through menopause just fine.
I had no hormonal anxiety or much else of note, really. I did have heart palpatations which I tied to coffee. Gave up coffee for 18 months, then went back to it and all is well.

I have the heart thing too, I used to get anxiety because of it until I had myself checked out. It is uncomfortable but not in a scary range according to DR. So that helps me just ride it out. Since I am going on 11 hours today and 17,000 steps I am NOT giving up the caffeine at this point.

[iris lilies]

yea hearing "a little bit of anxiety is helpful" is about like saying "a little bit of depression is helpful". Uh whatever is that about....

Oh you are so,right. I am likely using the label “anxiety” incorrectly.

I mean this: a state of heightened awareness, and uber focus, and nervousness about an outcome.

That is certainly not therapist-level anxiety.

DH has spells of anxiety where he gets wound up and nervous and on edge and u happy and cannot sleep. The lack of sleep feeds all of the previously mentioned symptons. When this happens, every few years, he goes to a therapist for a few sessions, gets drugs to help hi. Sleep, snd it all calms down.

[Yppej]

I have anxiety about certain things (like crime) which I control with rituals (such as checking that all the doors are locked before I go to bed at night, even though I know they are locked). It is not a general or disabling anxiety but does give me little touches of OCD.

When I was in an abusive marriage I was very skittish at home never knowing what would set him off, but was able to function and flourish at work. The anxiety made me alert and protected me, but it wore me down. After I left him I felt like a great cloud had been lifted off me. ZG, if and when you get a better job I bet you will also lose a cloud or two. In the meantime like IL says you are coping well in a bad situation.

[Gardenarian]

I feel more balanced since menopause. I love not dealing with the monthly cycles. It didn't cause me any anxiety at all - quite the opposite.

During peri -menopause I had a few fierce temper tantrums and crying jags, but that didn't last long (around 6 months.)

[Suzanne]

I have general anxiety disorder, which is much less obtrusive since I started taking Wellbutrin. It sometimes manifests as panic attacks, especially in crowded situations when I feel trapped. I’ve gotten off buses and walked long distances when I couldn’t breathe it down. It’s part of a suite of disorders including episodic major depression and PTSD. Basically, the anxiety means I’m always looking for a peg to hang it on! As an empath, I pick up on other people’s mental and physical dark energies and amplify them in my own body if I don’t consciously shield myself.

Yes, I get situationally nervous, but that just keys me up, as others have said. It leads to speaker’s high, exam high and writer’s high as well as better performance.

I manage my stuff with a toolkit of awareness, nutrition, and recently with resistance-band exercise. Wellbutrin threw open the door and set out a welcome mat into a world I’d never known! It’s a sensory world with colour and light and flavors and even phases of delight. Relaxation podcasts help. I like guided imagery - I do badly with meditation, which makes me anxious.

I did CBT, biofeedback training, and autogenics. I find it really helps to stop, breathe, and stop ricocheting.

[iris lilies]

I feel more balanced since menopause. I love not dealing with the monthly cycles. It didn't cause me any anxiety at all - quite the opposite.

During peri -menopause I had a few fierce temper tantrums and crying jags, but that didn't last long (around 6 months.)
I remember that a friend of mine was going through menopause around the same time as I was. Neither of us cry much if at all. But during those days of changing hormones, tears welled up often.

She and I were working on a neighborhood project and came to loggerheads with the President of our group who is a pretty good friend of ours. We threatened to just start crying if he didnt let is have our way, and he back away slowly, resigned to the power of female hormones and frankly, and little bit scared.

[Teacher Terry]

Too funny IL.

[Zoe Girl]

I

She and I were working on a neighborhood project and came to loggerheads with the President of our group who is a pretty good friend of ours. We threatened to just start crying if he didnt let is have our way, and he back away slowly, resigned to the power of female hormones and frankly, and little bit scared.

How funny! I recall the Boy Scout leader going through menopause and screaming at other drivers in the school pick up line for wanting to turn left. After a few of those incidents we got a group email explaining what was going on for her, she got some treatment and was back to normal.

[Gardenarian]

I think hormonal highs and lows can reveal truths and emotions we usually keep under wraps. Dd goes through some serious PMS venting every month and it clears the air (though sadly she often feels sorry afterwards.)

Expressing emotions is a good thing, though our particular culture may not approve.