Constant worry

I relate to these posts. It's only as I have become older that I worry about AC and GC. Never used to be this way! VANEVAM, I too feel anxious when the phone rings, glad it's not just me. I worry about how I would manage without my husband and dwell on how my life would change if I lost him . The pandemic has definitely brought these anxieties on , wouldn't have believed it at the beginning, but it is true. I just want to feel the way I did, I have to talk myself into doing the things I always took pleasure from . Feel to have lost myself in a well of worry. I put a brave face on when with family but underneath I feel to have lost confidence and am reluctant to get on with things. Don't feel depressed but lack motivation! Looking forward to regaining my old self. I am back in my aqua exercise class and have joined a spin class . The water makes me feel so much better and peddling a static bike lifts my mood. The sun will shine again , I feel sure of that.
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Yes, I’m the same with the phone. I get that awful feeling of dread when it rings. I’ve tried to find a cheerful ringtone to stop it happening but that doesn’t work No matter how many times I give myself a ‘good talking to’ my body physically changes when someone rings at an unexpected time (that awful tense, sinking feeling) it does make me feel like such a wimp at times. I agree that exercise helps. Have just started swimming after a break from it and I do feel better.

Same here. I’ve had some awful phone calls over the years and every time my phone rings I get a feeling of dread. I’m currently awaiting a test result for my dog and I asked my vet to email the result as I know how I’ll feel when the phone rings!

I miss going to the gym so much. It really released endorphins and I’d feel so much better.

I suffer terribly with anxiety and realise now I probably have all my life. Health worries mainly but just about everything starts the spiral of ‘what ifs’. I have had several counselling sessions but they didn’t help long term. I really want to be a positive glass half full type of person but seem stuck with being the complete opposite. I completely understand those of you who dread the phone ringing I am just the same but on the other hand if it doesn’t ring when I think it should I assume that something terrible has happened. I waste so much of my life worrying but I am almost frightened to let go of the worry as it seems like tempting fate (if that makes sense).

I am by nature a worrier. But strangely, my worrying reduced when I had cancer, and has stayed that way ever since.

Y9u need help from your GP to overcome this anxiety which is dominating your life. You do not have to live like this - why not see the doc and get the help you need so that you can enjoy life?

Thanks for all your kind comments. I too have retu6yo the gym and do body pump , yoga etc. I think its when my mind has time to think , eg at night. It is the what ifs as many others have said. Glad that I'm not alone.

I am another that does not worry much. This doesn't mean that i do not think about every worse scenario that can happen. But I always do it from the planning aspect. What would I do if X really did happen, how would I cope?' and having worked that out, I tuck that away, knowing that, if X happens, I will know what to do.

For the last 20 years I have checked DH every morning to see if he was still alive. I knew he was a heart attack waiting to happen. Well it happened on evening about a year ago. Once I realised he was having a heart attack, I worked on auto pilot: Ring for an ambulance, get DH downstairs as we have very narrow staircases and it is impossible to get one of those ambulance chairs up or down, open the front door for the paramedics. go and pack a bag for DH. Once I has seen him off, ring children and email others who should be told.

I had thought it through so often I didn't need to think. I knew exactly what to do. He was very ill and had bypass surgery and is now home, but I had/still have plans for what to do if he died suddenly. Once I know I have thought through the worse, I just get on with life.

Would it be possible to turn worries into plans? work out what to do, if the barely thinkable happens, even if it is that you can do nothing, and then having worked that out, pack it into the back of your mind?

MOnica this is exactly what I try to do. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

I agree with VANECAM now that I’m retired I worry more, dying is always on my mind although I’m not really old at 63 and I look at my 3 year old grandson and feel sad that I probably won’t see him grow up, I didn’t have the time to think about these things as much when I was working.

Suki70 That is exactly the phrase I use!