The anxiety equalizer!
As the days in isolation have turned to weeks, and rumor is that the weeks will likely be extended to months, my anxiety has been mostly under control. Yes, I have raised one of my meds back to where it was before surgery preventatively, but I haven't felt the need for the additional tranquilizer and that's a good thing! But, surprising.
I reached out to a bunch of friends around me who similarly deal with anxiety and, for the most part, we are all unbelievably calm during this storm. It's like we've been training for this our whole lives! We see everyone around us beginning to feel the way we do every day and, in a strange way, it's extremely comforting.
It almost normalizes how I feel.
Feeling nervous, restless or tense? Having trouble sleeping? All those nights while everyone else was sleeping fine, I had insomnia. Now everyone else has insomnia and I could sleep all day!
Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety? Afraid to go out shopping, for fear of people coming too close and spreading germs? Hah! Being confined to my home, with little social interaction outside of my 4 walls, homeschooling, working from home all while playing housewife I actually find calm in the empty aisles and social distancing measures that are in place everywhere! They should be like this all the time!
Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry? So focused on the pandemic that you can't focus on anything else, even things that should bring you joy? I'm long ahead of you, I'm always worrying about things 3 months ahead! Heck I'm worrying about things that don't happen for another year yet!
When all of this is behind us and a situation comes up that puts my anxiety front and center and someone says that they just don't understand, I will just reference this period in time and hopefully then I will be understood!
I reached out to a bunch of friends around me who similarly deal with anxiety and, for the most part, we are all unbelievably calm during this storm. It's like we've been training for this our whole lives! We see everyone around us beginning to feel the way we do every day and, in a strange way, it's extremely comforting.
It almost normalizes how I feel.
Feeling nervous, restless or tense? Having trouble sleeping? All those nights while everyone else was sleeping fine, I had insomnia. Now everyone else has insomnia and I could sleep all day!
Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety? Afraid to go out shopping, for fear of people coming too close and spreading germs? Hah! Being confined to my home, with little social interaction outside of my 4 walls, homeschooling, working from home all while playing housewife I actually find calm in the empty aisles and social distancing measures that are in place everywhere! They should be like this all the time!
Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry? So focused on the pandemic that you can't focus on anything else, even things that should bring you joy? I'm long ahead of you, I'm always worrying about things 3 months ahead! Heck I'm worrying about things that don't happen for another year yet!
When all of this is behind us and a situation comes up that puts my anxiety front and center and someone says that they just don't understand, I will just reference this period in time and hopefully then I will be understood!
Comments
Post a Comment