I'm 21, I can't enjoy life due to my anxiety :(

[scott93]

Hey, basically, I'm a 21 year old guy and I worry about EVERYTHING.

When I say everything, I just mean completely everything. I've had anxiety issues for about 3 years. It all started off when I was in a shop queuing to buy my lunch, and I went all hot and dizzy. I didn't faint but felt like I would. I took a deep breath and then it went away, I got out and ate something and felt fine. Around the same time, we got a stricter new teacher and I remember, everyday before one of his lessons, I felt like I was going to be sick.

But basically it's now just got to a point where I'm worrying about everything and I just want it to stop. I just don't feel happy anymore. I am constantly light headed and thinking the worst all of the time. I keep worrying that I've got a brain tumour instead and this is the reason for my light headedness... but 3 years on, could it actually be a tumour? Or would I have died by now?

I work in retail, I went to Uni and people have just been stressing me out about finding a job of what I want to go into (TV camerawork/journalism) but it's really hard to and I can't find the experience :(. I just feel pressurised.

Also just daily things... I love cycling, yet I feel light headed and so I worry about that, I worry i'll fall off my bike, I worry some car will hit me down, I worry the wheel will fall off or something as I'm going... AHH.

The anxiety seems to be worse the less sleep I get. But sometimes I can't get to sleep where I'm worrying. The best I feel is early morning or evening/night - when I know there aren't as many people I'll see in public.

I worry about everything though. It's 11pm, and I have work at 12:30pm tomorrow. I'm already worrying about that, and I keep worrying i'll oversleep or something (when I set alarms, and won't sleep that long!) and I worry i'll be ill or something and won't make it in and they'll sack me. It's absolutely crazy that I worry like that, but I do.

I've saved up quite a bit, I'd like to get a new phone, but I worry about that. I worry that something will happen and I won't be able to pay for it.

I've been to the Doctors about this. Everytime he's just given me a leaflet about breathing exercises. The time after, I seen a different Doctor, she gave me the same leaflet and said "we can't fix it for you" ... what do I do :(

[Sunflower2]

Hi Scott,
I'm a worrier also. I worry about every single thing possible, although I do worry quite a lot less than I used to! The thing that's helped me most with my worrying thoughts is cbt. Don't know if you can get that through your gp but you should have access to it somewhere. Otherwise there are some good free websites online to take you through the techniques.
It does it by making you look at your thoughts objectively and realising that they aren't completely 100% true! so therefore they tend to lose importance in your mind and you can let them go. It takes a lot of effort and you have to persevere even if you don't think you're getting anywhere but it definitely for me makes me think twice if I'm worrying obsessively over something.
The other thing that's helped me is mindfulness. There's a lot of books on it right now as it's become quite popular and it's about accepting your thoughts the way they are and seeing them as passing events, which you don't need to engage with.
I really really struggled with worries for sooo many years, so I understand how draining it is! Hope I've helped a bit!

[yiannis]

Hello, scott, I'm 23 and I can't enjoy my life due to my anxiety.

Kimberley is right, there is great wisdom in CBT and it's the stuff you ought to look into.

It will pass. We're in this life to be happy. We'll just try every single way and make it through the storm. You're not alone!