Don’t know what’s wrong with me!

[Aimee1875]

I wonder if anyone could give me a bit of advice here. I’ve only recently turned 18,and since then I feel that everything’s gotten worse. I’m normally prone to a huge lot of health anxiety but not so much now,more just anxiety of everything going wrong! I can’t get on a train myself without worrying if it gets too busy,can I get out? If it misses my stop and ends up 100 miles away from where I should be,can I get home? Recently I’ve been paranoid with being a passenger in a car. I’m doing nightshift tomorrow in work and I don’t drive (I am learning) however a friend is taking me home and we live a good 25 minutes away from work,along motorways and I’m scared that at 4 in the morning we could get into an accident because it’s dark etc. I feel as though if something were to go wrong I can’t control it as I’m in the passenger seat. It’s crippling me,I shouldn’t be like this at my age! I feel like I can’t enjoy my life because something bad will happen,every little thing I do I question what could go wrong and constantly plan the future which I know I can’t help,and I’m not sure how to stop! Has anyone been in this position before?

[lior]

Yes, sweetie, so many of us have felt like this :( I'm sorry you're feeling this way at the moment.

At times of high stress, I get anxiety and I develop a temporary phobia of escalators and cats. It goes away when I feel better. Now, when I suddenly feel terrified on an escalator, I know it's just because I'm feeling anxious right now.

Escalators DO have the potential to be very dangerous. Yet, I've ridden them countless times in my life, and I've never ever had an accident on one. The same could be said about driving at night. Yes, it could be dangerous - but millions of people have driven at night without anything bad happening.

Your anxiety is making you more sensitive to possible danger. That doesn't mean those dangers will come to anything.

This thing about 'I shouldn’t be like this at my age!' - I've had people tell me 'you shouldn't be so unwell at your age'. Unfortunately, that's just how it is. You didn't choose this, but you can learn to accept it, whether or not the people around you are supportive of that.

Do you know what is the root cause of your anxiety yet?

Have you done any meditation before? There's a great app called Insight Timer which you can get on your phone. It can help you to learn to live in the moment, rather than constantly planning for the future. There's even meditations specifically to help with anxiety.

Congratulations on turning 18 :) happy birthday.

[ana]

I have definitely been there :(. My anxiety started at 13, and when I was in my mid-teens, I could only manage walking to and from school. I couldn't go out anywhere else, and being the passenger in a car would frighten me no end.
Don't worry,though, reach out to people who help calm you down, talk to them on the phone until you build your confidence up enough to be able to attempt going places on your own and be a bit more independent. :)

I know it's hard, and I'm in the same boat as I am very anxious going somewhere on my own with no one on the phone or there with me in person, but when you think about it, it's not the other person who lowers your anxiety levels, it's you. If you can do it in company, you can certainly do it on your own. All in good time, though.

[Aimee1875]

I think my family are noticing it a lot more now. My recent obsession is the gas hob. We realised that even if it is switched off at the wall (electricity) you can still turn the knobs and the gas will come out as you can hear it. It’s scared me to death as im worried that i will bump into it and it will turn it on,however we going on a short break tomorrow in Scotland and my sisters will be watching our cat,who can open the kitchen door if he tries hard enough. I’m worried he may step on it and manage to turn it (silly I know!!) and turn the gas on and obviously if no ones in no one will know. I won’t be able to enjoy my holiday and it’s playing over and over in my head all this week and I’m so petrified about it it’s making me go crazy! All of these silly things are going on in my head about if the weather affects the ferries and we’re stuck etc. This is horrible:weep:

[ana]

Sounds like you're struggling with some obsessive thoughts at the moment. The mind latches on to an idea and it won't let go no matter what. What I'd do in your situation is just accept the fact that something bad will happen, that the gas will get turned on somehow. Once you 'know' that that's what's going to happen, accept the worst case scenario.

How often is it that worst case scenarios come true anyway? Not very often, if at all. However, once you've come to terms with it coming true, your fear of the bad scenario will lessen.