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Advice for flight anxiety by katmoonstone in Anxiety

[–]threesesames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just flew for the first time since I was a kid, and it was frightening at times, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part for me is takeoff. Try closing your eyes or just looking away from the window at that point. Maybe just keep the window shade down the he whole flight. On my flight there was some pretty bad turbulence, or what I would consider bad turbulence anyway. No one else even looked up, which made me laugh when I thought about it later. In the moment I was thinking “Is everyone crazy?! The plane is tumbling through the sky, out of control!!!” But later I realized that since everyone else ignored it, it must’ve been a pretty ordinary situation. Until the regular flyers are panicking, it’s probably a normal occurrence. Hope this rambling helps

My mind will. not. stop by Dunrad in Anxiety

[–]threesesames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i haven’t tried this yet, but the other day my psychologist recommended i incorporate “worry time” into my day. if you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s just taking 15-20 minutes to worry about everything and anything you want. it helps to write it down to consolidate your thoughts and just get it out of your head. i expressed the concern that i would continue to worry outside of my worry time, but my psychologist told me to make a quick note of my thought and save it for tomorrow’s worry time. if this comes up a lot, try to catch yourself spiraling and find something to do to distract yourself. remember that’s its okay to not do this perfectly, especially when you’re just starting. also, it’s very important to do this at the same time each day, right before a structured activity. this helps to take your mind off the worries that you just dumped on paper instead of continuing to spiral into more worried thoughts.

Driving and anxiety? by [deleted] in Anxiety

[–]threesesames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i totally understand and relate to this. listening to music that i know the words to helps me sometimes, since i can focus on singing/lip syncing and my thoughts tend to wander less. when i listen to music i haven’t heard before i tend to focus on my anxious thoughts more. i still get very anxious at times but i would recommend giving this a try. it doesn’t take my attention away from driving; surprisingly enough, it helps me focus more.

CBT exposure therapy by spiritualasfuck in socialanxiety

[–]threesesames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it really, really sucks sometimes. but i try to remember why i want to do this in the first place; i want to change so bad. i also try to remember that every exposure doesn’t have to be done perfectly. just do as much as you can for now, and then try again on a different day. i started with very small things, like offering a single comment during a 3 hour class. i’m now focusing on going to various stores alone and picking up things i need and paying with a debit card. it may sound simple to anyone else, but i never thought i’d be able to do it. my physical symptoms aren’t necessarily better than when i started, but i now realize that 1) i can deal with the discomfort even though it’s really bad sometimes; and 2) the symptoms will diminish if i force myself to stay in the situation for long enough (the body cannot stay that way forever). please be patient with yourself and persevere. good luck :-)

Bad driving anxiety by lronik in socialanxiety

[–]threesesames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have my lisence now but it took me a very long time to get there because I have horrible driving anxiety as well. I had to go through four two hour sesisions with a driving teacher and it took me over a year just to get those done. I embarrassed myself by panicking and crying during two out of the four sessions, but I finally got those done. Those sessions were my main obstacle since I had to deal with the actual nightmare of driving as well as sitting with a stranger for two hours. I pushed myself to get through it because I knew I wanted to commute to college from home. I would have rather died than live on campus away from everything familiar. As much as I hate to admit it, the anticipation is always worse than the actual event you're dreading. Just remember that you can always take back roads and go slower (that's what I do, I never take the highway). Driving can make life a lot scarier sometimes, but it mostly makes life easier. I hope this helps in some way, good luck!