I have this problem: I'm worried...

[mdlbear]

... but I don't know what I'm worried about. It's weird, and, um, worrying. When I know what I'm worried about, I can do something about it: either tell myself it's so unlikely as not to be worth worrying about, or do something about it. Or, I suppose, push it out of my mind and try not to think about it, or tell myself I'll start working on it Real Soon Now.

What the heck do you do when you can't figure out what the problem is?

Comments

Would you believe

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I look in the closet or the fridge? When I'm distracted enough I act on a vague feeling of "Looking for something". Then I laugh.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I start by checking my calendar/PDA and my e-mail/phone messages to see if there's something I've forgotten to do, or some big project due soon that I need to accomplish something on. If I'm home, I also check the stove and the oven to make sure they are off :-) If I find it, I do my best to deal with whatever it is.

If I can't find anything wrong, I try to distract myself from the feeling by reading an absorbing book, designing something, watching a funny movie, or something like that. If I can get my mind to change the subject, that usually puts a stop to the feeling for me.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Oh, great loop. Worry about why you are worrying, so you worry more.

Check with your to-do lists & close friends and see if you're forgetting something.

If not, keep in mind that it's possible to have anxiety just because the brain isn't perfect and created some anxiety chemicals. If that's what's going on, reinforcing it won't help. Distract self with something you can do, either to cross something off your list or to have fun. Or go snuggle with Colleen. Do something different with your brain so you aren't just practicing being worried for no reason. That's like practicing the wrong set of chords for a song, over and over.

[mdlbear]

I don't think I'm forgetting anything really vital, though the to-do list has so damned many accumulated "ought to get done but by no specific date" items that it's impossible to tell.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

Just so I can actually give you something to worry about, I need to ask if you and Colleen are actually coming to ConChord? And if you are, would you please throw that old white hot water pot in the van? Thanks!

[mdlbear]

We're coming, but we're taking the Honda Civic. We'll see whether there's room.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

Ok, so I'll reply to the actual post if I find more time this evening, but I have to say that I absolutely *love* your ligature. Er, userpic. ;)

[mdlbear]

It came out of a typography contest a couple of years ago; unfortunately I didn't save the link.

The one in this comment is the logo for an actual company called Western Truck Fabrication. I first encountered it when I pulled up behind a truck at a traffic light; fortunately I was able to stop laughing before it turned green.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

That's called "free-floating anxiety". As wyld_dandelyon points out, it's very similar to depression. It's not that there's actually something wrong - it's the body producing an excess of the neurotransmitters that signal "there's something wrong!". The traditional treatment for free-floating anxiety is to prescribe anxiolytics, a/k/a tranquilizers. However, an activity that can change the body's neurotransmitter production is probably a better choice most of the time. Eat something that will put your blood sugar in an optimal range and keep it there for a while. Make sure you're properly hydrated, with the right electrolyte balance. Take a walk, or perform some other moderate exercise - or exert yourself until you reach the kind of physical exhaustion that paradoxically feels good. Take a nap and/or a shower. Smell something that has calming and relaxing emotional associations; lavender, lemon, and the combination of apple and spice scents usually called "apple pie" are canonical, but something else may work better for you - also "tea, Earl Grey, hot", with its citrusy fragrance of bergamot.

[mdlbear]

Hmm. Walking does seem to help. I don't know any other forms of exercise, and I'm pretty sure I don't have a good handle on blood sugar, electrolyte balance, and hydration.

There are certainly some real problems I need to be worried about, though: aging, the financial trainwreck, Colleen's health...

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't know how to teach a person to be aware of their body's needs... I only know what signals my own body sends, and what to remember to pay attention to. For example, if I'm sleepy, but I think I've gotten enough sleep recently, then it must be hunger and/or dehydration. So I drink a full glass of water - noting in the process whether my body wants me to drink another glass. And if that doesn't make me feel less sleepy in a short while, then I have to go looking for something to eat. Similarly, I don't normally like fruit very much, so I don't eat it. But when I start thinking, "Y'know, I'd really enjoy a banana..." I know that I need it for the potassium (and other electrolytes).

As for the real-world worries... everybody is in the middle of a financial trainwreck, and I'm not going to play "my trainwreck is messier than yours"; the bottom line is that we all might as well consider it akin to a natural disaster, one we have very little power to change, and just salvage ourselves and our families as best we can. Aging - I'm only a few months younger than you are. I don't even take especially good care of myself, and never have. Nevertheless, I seriously intend to celebrate my 100th birthday - I think attitude has as much or more to do with it than numbers on a calendar, or even physical health. (You're still invited to the party, of course!) And Colleen's health has been getting steadily better for almost as long as I've known you.

Maybe you need to worry, at least a little bit. Set aside a precisely scheduled ten minutes a day when you will do absolutely nothing but worry. But when the timer goes off, you have to stop worrying, until the next scheduled session...

[mdlbear]

Perhaps http://www.naturopathyworks.com/pages/cravings.php might help? (I'm not sure I believe all of it, given the source.)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

You're gonna need an awful lot of dirty pigs to use up all that hogwash...

[victorthecook.livejournal.com]

I examine my breathing -- when I have nebulous dread, it's usually a mild asthma attack coming on slowly. I realize that this may not generalize well as an answer, but it's saved me a lot of misery over the years.

My strategies

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Hmm . . .I've had that experience and addressed it by:

1) Exercising until I am quite sweaty/tired.
2) Journal writing for 45 minute every day, and just letting myself ramble on paper (or the computer) to see what comes up.
3) Picked a 30 minute time period each day that I *let* myself worry like a worrying fanatic. And when I start to worry outside that time, I put it off until that time (and yes, slowly learn how to shift my consciousness from worrying to something else)

I've done all these things or one or two of these things, when worrying has been annoying and well . . .Getting out of hand.

I hope that helps!

Hugs,

Andrea

Re: My strategies

[mdlbear]

I should probably go back to journal writing -- not LJ and not necessarily for publication. Yeah. Good idea.

Exercise has been mentioned, though it's one of those things I've always hated and don't know any good ways of doing. I probably need to find some.