why do I feel sad and anxious about things ending

[barneygp]

Hi, my GP says I have GAD. I'm constantly hyper alert which started 4 weeks ago after I woke up in a panic and my mind and body has been racing since then. The worst part is that I get distressed by seeing loss in everyday things e.g. when chatting with my mum I feel anxious and sad that her words are gone forever and won't be remembered, the same with passing movie scenes or even my own thoughts. It's like I can't enjoy the present or look forward because it's ending in front of me. This is really impacting on my life e.g. had to cancel a holiday. Can anyone tell me how I might deal with this. My GP gave me beta blockers and told me to read about CBT. Thanks

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Wow, what a lazy GP! He/she knows you can be referred for therapy, given access to online CBT free of charge or issued book prescriptions.

What you describe about how things are gone is something I can understand as I had this too with my GAD. Part of it is sadness at loss and another part is an inability to ley go of things that are normally not meant to stick around.

Do you find yourself keeping things for sentimental value quite a lot? Even a piece of paper?

CBT could help. For me, Mindfulness helped the most because it teaches you not to place too much emphasis on things that should after all just be passing through. It twigged you not to create these anchors, judge thoughts less and be more accepting. This helps because you start to learn that its normal to let go off these things.

[barneygp]

Thanks for your reply. Friends say that I'm projecting feelings of actual loss onto the world (I've had some big changes in my life recently although I thought I was on top of these). I'm not sure how to explore and deal with these feelings.
To have a good night's sleep would be helpful. Even when I drop off I wake to a rushing body (even before I start thinking).
Thanks again.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's very typical of GAD, you will hear many people say that about waking up.

I wouldn't say you are projecting your feelings onto the world around you in terms of the thoughts about things being lost. Its more that you are reacting with a feeling of loss because you are clinging to things as opposed to letting the everyday stuff float by.

Perhaps there is also some insecurity going on?

You need to learn not to judge things as you currently do, to be able to exist more in the moment and appreciate things without needing to hang on to them in this irrational manner.

You could try therapy for this. CBT will encourage you to view your thoughts in a different way and recognise negative thought patterns. Mindfulness will also help you very beyond this because it will restore a more rational manner of viewing these things and how to appreciate them as they occur and that you don't need to hang on to them because you are not meant to and that they will come again.

[H.Daniel]

Things, people, events, they just come and go, nothing really lasts forever and the same with your not so happy feelings.

What I usually do when I feel like my world is coming to an end, and yes, that happens to me too, it to think of a time when I was down, a time when I felt really sad and blue, a time when I felt like the whole world would come to an end, and I had no way to escape, and I use that as proof that what my mind is telling me is not always true.

It is so important to work on making your mind work for you and not against you, because you see, in order for you to enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to your family, to bring peace to all, you must first discipline and control your own mind.

The moment you stop and look at things from a different perspective, the moment you chose to change your attitude toward life, life will start to change it’s attitude towards you, and from that moment things will never be the same again.

Everything changes the moment we decide to change and the whole world will start to revolve around us because you see, we do matter for the world, we matter a lot.