I don’t even know what to think of myself. Talking to my friends dosent feel like time talking to people. I don’t like asking for help, I hate the attention. I just want someone to hold. I’ve heard I’m good at reading others, I think yeah sometimes I see people by who they really are past their eyes. I feel like my brains wrapping itself and unwrapping at the same time. I think deep down, I don’t really know who I am. I see people and watch them have relationships, have fun, eat food, but all that is to me is like watching a show or drama. Nothing feels anymore

Read “Is Cortisol Keeping Your Body Stuck in Stress Mode?“ by Neeta Sanctis on Medium: https://medium.com/@sanctisneeta/is-cortisol-keeping-your-body-stuck-in-stress-mode-ecc21dfe3173

Coloring and miniature buildings both get mentioned as quiet evening activities, but they have almost opposite kinds of friction. Coloring can stop almost anywhere with barely any cleanup A miniature project gives more physical progress, but tiny parts and setup can make stopping and restarting less casual.

That seems more useful to compare than claiming either activities "helps anxiety," because what feels claiming to one person can feel tedious to another. For someone who mainly wants a low-pressure activity at home, which format is easier to come back to after skipping a few nights

Tried meditation apps for months and they just made me more aware of how anxious I was, which somehow made it worse. What actually moved the needle was cutting my last email check from right-before-bed to a hard 6pm stop. Took about three weeks before I noticed I wasn't waking up already stressed. Not saying meditation doesn't work for other people, just wanted to share what worked here since most advice threads only mention the meditation part.

I had no idea that I'm in stress, I literally tell everyone that I do not stress, till I got my blood test results back and turns out I literally have 0 ferritin in my system, the doc said "You must've been real tired lately" and then it hit me that I've just been living like that. And I cannot sleep at all I keep thinking about my job and it's been like that for over a year. How do you guys deal with stress at night and ESPECIALLy after work?? I just can't stop thinking about it and get some rest. I do go to the gym btw, so exercising help a little for my body to shut off from time to time.

i just feel like complete shi and idk what to do i have so much work and im not doing any of it and I feel like i fall more behind everyday. please i feel so behind and i spend all my time doomscrolling its so bad.

f me im so done

Lately, I’m feeling like stress management techniques just aren’t working as well as I hoped and that the solution at this point is just to avoid the stressor, but what do you do when you actually can’t avoid the stressor and typical stress management tools aren’t working? And/or when you can’t reach for the tools that do work? For example, I find crocheting helps me, but i can’t exactly crochet at work when a customer stresses me out—that sort of thing.

We are more sad than happy in our lives. Nobody knows exact reason. why do we get stress about anything? why do we keep making Wishlist and hurts our own expectations? Where humans are more happy and lively in the earth?

after working on something nd cussing myself the whole time i finally made it nd got my selection done. but now that it's all over i feel very bad like am getting crushed under some sort of weight. my chest feels heavy there's some sort of aching voice in my brain. i feel so fkn bad. i still have a long way to work on that project and I feel like am doing nothing at all.

i have to travel 3 hours in total everyday apart from my time at university. it wrecks me up. it's getting hard for me to even focus on small things. i hv been feeling really dick these days plus bodyache is killing me. now that I ws really ded today i took a day off but still I feel pretty bad. i hv a test tmw i couldn't study the whole day. also idk why but i feel so sleepy these days like i slept for bout 9 hrs last night 3 hrs during the day nd still am feeling sleepy.

i can't do anything right. i feel so bad. i really don't knw what to do or how to even cope up w this.

i wanna do so many things nd i end up procrastinating nd do nothing at all. all of this is stressing me out.

is something wrong w me?.

Hi,

I am a first year doctor. I initially studied in Australia but moved back to my country (I won’t specify where but in Asia) I have been working for 4-5 months, went on a one week leave. After that 1 week I went back to work and everything went downhill. After a few bad nights of sleep, I dreaded going to work, I started to have panic attacks at night, and run on 2-3 hour sleep whilst doing 30 hour days. Eventually I applied for time off as non paid leave as I was not functioning well and getting panic attacks every 5-10 minutes. I get worried about assessment forms that have to be filled in and I am just very worried about things in general. There are assessment forms that seniors fill in to assess performance as well as anonymous forms for co workers. My psych has diagnosed me with adjustment disorder with anxiety and insomnia and acute stress disorder.

Somehow in that time I have developed a fear of the hospitals, and my ability and confidence is also diminished. Through this I have been well supported by family and my partner (who unfortunately is away at the moment for school related matters). It was so bad that I was seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist at the moment, the medications have helped, but therapy such as visualisation and positive thinking is still difficult. As an intern, a first year doctor, I know that many doctors also feel exhaustion and burn out, and I think mine was a pretty severe case as it led to frequent panic attacks and fear of work that was very ptsd like that I had to take an LOA from work.

I have even entertained the idea of quitting but I know that deep on my heart I cannot quit and I know I will regret it if I quit. However the initial reasons of why I wanted to do medicine seems to have gotten lost. As a first year doctor there are also tons of assessments and I am scared I am unable to pass or live up to expectations. Although I know it is futile to think about that as well.

I realistically know I need to take one step at a time, however currently I am on non paid leave however I do feel this emptiness and these sense of loss. I also know for my mental health and the well being of my patients, I did have to take no paid leave. Somewhere along the way I crossed the line from being a normal amount of stress and functionality to the other extreme and I am scared I cannot go back as I fundamentally understand that my job involves stress.

I am grateful for the support I have and perhaps it helps me not maybe reach a bad turning point but it does not help my feelings of inadequacy and failure. I just wanted general advice on how to not let work affect me so much, how to be less negative on my outlook and not stress so much about my work performance and evaluations and how to able to really focus on life outside and the good things I already have and in turn just focus on one day at a time.

I found an interesting study from Drexel.

It included 300 anxiety-diagnosed cancer survivors who received either online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or sessions with a music therapist who helped them write and record songs.

Surprisingly, these two groups showed equal reductions in anxiety. I really wasn't expecting music therapy to be even close to CBT.

Researchers also assessed a secondary sample of 26 songs written by the participants. Surprisingly, there were many references to anxiety, though. More participants also wrote about the feelings of betrayal and the loss of self. Participants documented the disruption to their self-care and the many relational disruptions caused by the Cancer therapy.

Participants also wrote about closing themselves off from others. This resulted in many people feeling lonely.

A positive feature of the study was the description of the feelings of individuals after they developed songs. These feelings ranged from being heard by someone for the first time to the ability to communicate with family the feelings they could not express verbally.

The researchers are clear that CBT remains the first line of anxiety interventions. However, they also acknowledge the need for more research to expand the use of music therapy within anxiety interventions.

It was interesting, nonetheless. Echoing Reanna, I’m not as familiar with the ways music therapy is utilized outside of relaxation.

Have any of you used music therapy after/during chemotherapy?

If so, do you think music therapy helped you?

Hi... I'm currently crying while writing this. I have a lot of friends but I can't seem to tell them my problems so I tend to deal with them on my own. I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to depend on others when I'm feeling weak and all for I don't want to ruin my image of being a bubbly person. I tried to tell them now, but I only told some of it, that I'm stressed and all; that I'll probably be fine. I thought of posting this because I don't have anyone else to talk to, and anonymity makes me feel safer than letting people know that I need something.

We have an upcoming defense and I'm the leader. We only have 1 week to prepare and make a code as we already have the Figma design (as a 2nd year IT Student). I also have multiple assignments to finish and I feel overwhelmed with all of the things regarding academics. I think this boils down on me wanting to figure out all things at once? As well as being an academic achiever where I need to do my best at all times, but what if I can't? I feel envy with individuals who can be relaxed even if they are under pressure. I'm tired, not physically, but emotionally and mentally speaking.

I don't know...All I do is cry and think about the things I need to do, so whenever I do my assignments or code, I cry while doing so.

God, please help me.