I noticed as young adult that I didn’t really worry or consciously stress, but my body had somewhat predictable reactions to situations that I would realize, in hindsight, were highly stressful. Those physical reactions sucked, and as they got worse over time, it really concerned me.
At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was at any moment, and the more I noticed the more it worried me.
Years later I tried mindfulness meditation and found that it helped. But also, I finally hit a kind of turning point where I just realized that there was nothing I could really do about anxiety or the physical symptoms that came along with it. I decided to mostly try to quit noticing and thinking about it. And that really helped.
I still feel stress and anxiety symptoms sometimes. They still suck. My conscious mind is still the last to recognize what’s going on. But, overall, I feel I can handle a lot more stress now than I could ten years ago without it ruining my quality of life, and more importantly I can recognize the stress, not worry too much about it so I can get through it, and then rest and recuperate (as soon as possible) and recover much quicker than when I was younger.
I’ve concluded that the best advice is to learn not to worry about things. Unfortunately that’s easier said than done, and I’m not sure I have any advice on how to learn to do that :/
At some point I was encouraged to go to CBT, which I did, but honestly it made things worse. I became hyper aware of how anxious I was at any moment, and the more I noticed the more it worried me.
Years later I tried mindfulness meditation and found that it helped. But also, I finally hit a kind of turning point where I just realized that there was nothing I could really do about anxiety or the physical symptoms that came along with it. I decided to mostly try to quit noticing and thinking about it. And that really helped.
I still feel stress and anxiety symptoms sometimes. They still suck. My conscious mind is still the last to recognize what’s going on. But, overall, I feel I can handle a lot more stress now than I could ten years ago without it ruining my quality of life, and more importantly I can recognize the stress, not worry too much about it so I can get through it, and then rest and recuperate (as soon as possible) and recover much quicker than when I was younger.
I’ve concluded that the best advice is to learn not to worry about things. Unfortunately that’s easier said than done, and I’m not sure I have any advice on how to learn to do that :/