Do you have bad habits to make yourself feel better?

[samtheman]

Anxiety and the depression etc that comes with it can be horrible, Do you have bad habits in order to make yourself feel better about life?

I'll explain what I mean, I have a few,

A major one for me would be over spending, If I'm feeling down I buy stuff I don't need online, then I feel all guilty about doing it, then the item arrives I get all excited about it arriving, being a guy its usually a gadget of some sort, but once it arrives thats the fun over and its usually on ebay within a month at a loss, and ebay in itself is another diversion from my issues, the thrill of buying and selling and making money etc even though I'm making a loss 99% of the time. Needless to say I've got into a fair bit of debt with this by obtaining credit cards etc.

Another one I have is over eating, I will eat healthy all day then come home and eat nothing but junk and even go to the chippy a few times per week, again that comes under overspending and the thrill of spending money.

I also drink, not heavily, every Saturday night but again it diverts from my anxiety etc.

I also smoke, I'm not really getting anything out of that, I think its just a bad habit.

What about you?

[Anxious_gal]

smoking till my chest hurts when Im really anxious!
coffee, only two cups a day but I always look forward to my cup of coffee!
Spacing out all day on the internet as a distraction from my anxiety.

[unspoken]

Staying up till 4 or 5 in the morning doing pointless things on the internet. I then don't get up till about 12 and I don't sleep very well so I am permanently tired and am not awake at useful times. Also I tend to eat at silly hours of the morning and just before bed, despite knowing that I shouldn't because I get night time reflux.

[Mr Parfect]

For me, I comfort eat, which is embarrassing. Feel so worse afterwards.

[looking4answers]

I suppose I do.. I smoke,I order things online."better now" but have done this in excess at times.. I can't drink im allergic to alcohol..I do love banana nut bread and also usually eat at least one piece of this a day .I suppose the smoking is probably the most destructive thing I do to cope with anxiety .But then again I guess I would really have to sit down and think about the things I have done to cope..

[NotResponding]

Dont know if this is what you mean, but I got little habbits like nail bitting, scratching, shaking my leg (like tapping it, nervously), used to drink alot to get rid of anxiety, but I thought if this carrys on 'll eventually become an alcoholic, and have TWO problems.
Unspoken; I do that too, stay up really late, just because if I sleep I'll have to wake. Once I just stayed up all night on the net! (no, not doing that!)
:)

[Rachel_123]

i tidy my bedroom. not that obsessively because i know that would be a problem, just once and im happy. it calms me a little....

[unspoken]

Dont know if this is what you mean, but I got little habbits like nail bitting, scratching, shaking my leg (like tapping it, nervously), used to drink alot to get rid of anxiety, but I thought if this carrys on 'll eventually become an alcoholic, and have TWO problems.
Unspoken; I do that too, stay up really late, just because if I sleep I'll have to wake. Once I just stayed up all night on the net! (no, not doing that!)
:)

I've stayed up all night a number of times. Part of the problem is that I get horribly vivid nightmares which make me not want to sleep. But also I WANT to be useless during the day, so I don't have to do anything I'm scared of.

I used to bite my nails before I became too scared to put my fingers near my mouth because I could get ill from doing so. All the government's public health advertising has made me really paranoid and scared of bacteria/viruses being on my hands :scared15: So from one anxiety problem to another, really!

I know what you mean about not wanting to become dependent on substances because it would be another problem to deal with. I am scared of becoming hooked on tranquilizers, otherwise I would take them more often to help me get to sleep. Alcohol and smoking give me acid reflux and I am emetophobic so I'm scared to do either. IBS means I can't eat junk food. So apart from bingeing on breakfast cereal or toast, I can't really have many vices.

[NotResponding]

Oh but breakfast cereal is not a bad thing to be binging on! Toast is a good time killer lol! I bite my nails but I wouldn't do it after handling anything like ykno, dog's bowl, or bacon, anything dirty. Wash hands like 3-5 times a day, aint worried, but that's like a OCDish thing isnt it. I heard hypnotherapy might help with nightmares, cant think of anything that could cure bad dreams other than that.