Fear of time passing

We all knew what it was like when we were children; A day seemed like a lifetime and we didn't care about time passing.
Now, time is my fear, and I really need help. I've been trying to find someone else that feels the same way as I do, but with no luck. People just don't get it. Anyway, I'm gonna try to explain how I feel.
This started about 2 months ago, when I moved out. I really don't know why it started, it's kind of wierd... anyway. I can't stop thinking about time passing, and it freaks me out. Like, how can it already be 4 p.m?? Or where did the last 10 minutes go? How on earth is it already the middle of September? This leads to me almost always having stomachpain and sometimes even freaking out. I can't enjoy the fun things I do beacuse I'm always thinking about time passing, or something like "oh this fun thing is going to end soon". Now, I know there's no way to stop time. I just want to able to not think this way, I want to be able to think in the way I did before... This is a serious issue for me. I don't want answears like "You have to live in the now" beacuse that's what I'm trying to do, I need advice on how to not feel the way that I do...

Hi Seylie,

Everyone... EVERYONE... wonders where time goes. I also can't believe it is mid-September. Crazy!!

Make peace with your thoughts about time. They are natural, and not threatening.

The more you stress about having these thoughts, the more they will come.

As long as you are enjoying your time, and filling it with joy, your thoughts regarding time are insignificant.

I've got the exact opposite issue to yours, though you could say that time worries us both, and makes us obsess over it. My issue appears to be time passing too slowly. I am constantly in search for 'something better that happens tomorrow/next month/next....unit of time'. My anxiety makes me feel like there's not enough time, and yet the time I do have passes so slowly because I feel so bad, and I just want those bad times to go away. I hope this makes some sense lol.

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Originally Posted by ana

I've got the exact opposite issue to yours, though you could say that time worries us both, and makes us obsess over it. My issue appears to be time passing too slowly. I am constantly in search for 'something better that happens tomorrow/next month/next....unit of time'. My anxiety makes me feel like there's not enough time, and yet the time I do have passes so slowly because I feel so bad, and I just want those bad times to go away. I hope this makes some sense lol.

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I'm like that too, Ana. My therapist picked up on it really quickly because I was wishing the days away hoping I would wake up tomorrow feeling a bit better so I could move forward. This was when she was saying I needed to try to keep moving forward regardless of how the day started and then the day may get better and the pattern would change so that more days started better.

It's like with insomnia, you set yourself up for failure by the worry.

Maybe try this .Go outside and practice gratitude be grateful for all what you see tree buildings sky people around you etc .

I have this. I find it very difficult to lose myself in an activity. It's really impacted the things i enjoy doing. I have to "schedule" time to do the things i like. It often turns these activity's into a chore. It can take such a mental effort sometimes that it's just too exhausting to try.

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Originally Posted by Seylie

We all knew what it was like when we were children; A day seemed like a lifetime and we didn't care about time passing.
Now, time is my fear, and I really need help. I've been trying to find someone else that feels the same way as I do, but with no luck. People just don't get it. Anyway, I'm gonna try to explain how I feel.
This started about 2 months ago, when I moved out. I really don't know why it started, it's kind of wierd... anyway. I can't stop thinking about time passing, and it freaks me out. Like, how can it already be 4 p.m?? Or where did the last 10 minutes go? How on earth is it already the middle of September? This leads to me almost always having stomachpain and sometimes even freaking out. I can't enjoy the fun things I do beacuse I'm always thinking about time passing, or something like "oh this fun thing is going to end soon". Now, I know there's no way to stop time. I just want to able to not think this way, I want to be able to think in the way I did before... This is a serious issue for me. I don't want answears like "You have to live in the now" beacuse that's what I'm trying to do, I need advice on how to not feel the way that I do...

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Hi :)

I sort of understand how you feel. One minute your a child and then the next your an adult with responsibilities. I've found that the past few months have gone really fast for me and there are other times when I feel like the day is dragging such as when I'm at work. My greatest fear is getting older, however unfortuantly we can't stop time but what we can do instead is to try to live in the moment and make the best of what time we have on this earth. The way you need to combat this is to change your way of thinking, you could also try something like CBT. Your best bet is to go to your GP and ask what sort of services out there are to help you beat this and get back to your old way of thinking.

I think the vast majority of people feel like this and everyone has different coping mechanisms to deal with it. Some people just put it out of their minds, others are simply too busy in the here and now to deal with it but really, if you take time out and consider it all, time moving on is a terrifying prospect, isn't it?

I try not to worry about getting old and think how lucky I am to even have that as a concern as many people don't get that privilege.

I think I understand what you mean Seylie, I feel the same way a lot of the time. Do you have ideas about why you're afraid of time passing? Is it the loss of something you can't get back? Fear of change? Getting older? Not meeting some expectation of what should have happened in the time that has passed? I think to some degree all of these things make me afraid. But maybe the trick is to learn to just accept it and somehow be ok with it.