Hi marvelfangirl,
Welcome to the forums, thank you for your post. It can feel scary putting yourself out there posting for the first time but please know this is a non-judgmental space, we are here to listen and support you.
I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling with anxiety, it sounds like it is affecting you a lot. Constant anxiety and worrying, especially on your days off, must get exhausting. Here are a few ways of trying to deal with the anxiety and reduce it:
- Scheduling "worry time": allocating a specific time period of the day (e.g. 10 minutes at 6.30pm) to go through your concerns/worries. This may involve writing things out, running over things on your mind, planning how you can work around/through them. This means at other times, you'll need to try to "postpone" your worry, acknowledge the anxiety but say to yourself that you can come back to that worry and address it later.
- Writing: can help externalise some of your worries, allow you to dump all of your thoughts/worries onto a page (handwritten/typed whatever you prefer). Writing things out can also help to organise your thoughts a bit and help you to see things from a different perspective and help you challenge your thoughts.
- "Vaulting" your feelings/anxieties: acknowledge the presence of your anxiety, but try to put those worries aside, are the worries really helping you? You may want to visualise storing them away in a box, put them away for now, return to them when you are back at work or tomorrow or a planned time. It may help to develop a bit of a mantra e.g. “work
is finished for the day. Now is the time to set aside ruminations. Put it away for now, leave it for tomorrow.”
- Planning things for after work/for your days off, having somewhat of a routine to help you decompress after work. Whether this is exercise, calling a friend, going out for a drink/meal, listening to music/podcast, stretching, having a shower or doing a face mask or something nice for yourself that helps you relax.
- Listening/doing meditations or progressive muscle relaxation.
- Grounding can also help when the anxiety gets overwhelming. Have a look at grounding techniques - they can be sensory, breathing exercises, things like that.
These are things that have helped me. They're just suggestions, different things work for different people, but just thought you may find it useful to consider them. Please don't hesitate to talk more if and when you feel up to it. Take care.
