I heard the phrase "I was only nineteen" and now I am convinced

[gatsby12]

Hi guys, I am typing this from my phone. I woke up in a panic and can't aleep it's 4:03 as I began typing this.

A little while ago I was listening to the audiobook World War Z trying to put my head into another world while playing games and I heard the phrasereferring to the song "I was only nineteen." I listened to the book twice and I get the same twisting feeling in my gut like this is a "sign" something horrible is gonna happen when I am nineteen (turning on December 31st.) I am scared to death my worst fears will come true when I am nineteen. I am trying to get my life together and everything seems t it med against me. Please help me for I feel like the world is about to end before it starts. Even worse I am noticing more and more coincidences and it's making me uneasy 24/7.

[debs71]

Hi,

This is all just anxiety convincing you that there is some 'sign' there, and directing you to 'coincidences' that are doubtless nothing at all. This is a classic example of how a really anxious mind creates these ludicrous and unrealistic thoughts in our brains and just nags away at us, but TRUST ME when I tell you that there is NOTHING for you to worry about here, and this is just high stress talking and twisting your thinking.

Why would a simple audiobook that millions would also listen to be directly speaking and referring to you and you alone??? That in itself is an impossibility....it is just that when our minds are super-anxious, it muddles our thinking, and then whatever thought we have is repeated over and over in our minds and just gets us more and more paranoid and anxious about it.

I have been where you are, and I am certain that many others here on the site have too. When I was really unwell during my nervous breakdown 12 years ago, my thoughts were totally bizarre - like I was scared I was swallowing/sniffing too much, that I thought I could see faces in the wallpaper (but I knew in my brain that was ridiculous) that my anxiety was a punishment for something I had done.....just stupid thought after stupid thought - and this was ALL driven by high anxiety.

Nothing will happen to you, hon. You just need some help and TLC as far as your high anxiety goes as this is driving those compulsive thoughts.

Hang in there.xx

[CoraB]

I've been there too! When i was younger I always felt I had this "knowledge" I wasn't going to make it to 25. I looked for signs everywhere and drove myself half mad and nothing happened.. and now i'm in my 30's. I still have this horrible nagging feeling about "dying young" though i just can't shake its like a horrible shadow I can't lift.

[gatsby12]

It feels so nice to know I am not alone. I have been looking into going back into the doctors and going back on zoloft. Thanks guys.

[TomT]

Hey sharkster1,

I guess we all been there thinking that every little thing is a sign for something ulterior, I know I am sometimes there with all the coincidences and thoughts around my existence and reality.

But its important to remember they are just thoughts and the only connection between those coincidences is fear and anxiety, they are just that coincidences. Try ignoring them, I know its freaking hard, but eventually you will get the grip to it and it will be easier.


Tom.

[Pepperpot]

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-b...of-phenomenon/

[gatsby12]

baader meinhof phenomena

yeah, frequency illusion is the bane of my existence.

[MyNameIsTerry]

When I see threads about coincidence, I wish Davit was still on here as he was very well read on how memory works and could help explain some of this.

Dial down your fight or flight response and this frequency illusion issues will go with it to an extent because you won''t be on high alert as much. Regardless of the form, anxiety is all about reactions and the irony is that the negative reaction signals the completion of the cycle thus reinforcing it. Learn to reduce this reaction as well as challenge your thoughts and things get much better. Mindfulness is excellent for the former.

[gatsby12]

I called too soon on saying I relapsed from OCD. It just took a turn and came back. Literally just about any real thought about someone or something it is soon linked or talked about. I was about to post a reaction video of "you blew it" before I decided against it and someone posts a picture of a tired looking Adam Sandler. I think Vlad the Impaler and I see a friend playing a game named "Vlad the Impaler."

I am not having a panic attack yet but I am feeling stressed and disturbed. This "I was only 19 thing" is starting to really concern me now. If I predicted these then whats stopping it? I want this just to be a thought. I just want this to be a bad feeling.

[uru]

I thought everyone in the UK would be dead from CJD by now when I was your age.