Help!

[twinkle2306]

I'm sorry this is going to be a longer one!

So myself, DH and DS have all been at home since the 16th March. In that time I've gone out twice to walk the dog (we are fortunate to have a good sized garden and lots of agility equipment) and once to my parents house to drop off some shopping. Left it on the doorstep. We have had 2 lots of Shopping delivered. One for our family and once for my parents as they managed to forget to swap the address on the delivery!
I have anxiety especially around health and I just can't stop panicking. I've made my hands red raw when I go out however as I haven't been out for a week now it's died down as I haven't washed them as much. I am on edge all the time and I just feel like I can't cope.
DH is amazing and understands me very well but I don't know what to do. I get so angry with people who break the rules because I feel like they are being selfish because they may think that they will be ok but don't know who else will be out there and if they will be ok. I've had many an argument on MN because I just don't understand why majority of us follow the rules no matter what the personal cost to us including mental health and money but others won't. I feel like I'm just loosing it and I don't know what to do!
My neighbours have been out constantly and had people over all the time which is annoying me as well but there's nothing I can do.
What can I do about my anxiety, is there anything I can do.
I'm not sure what I'm expecting out of this but needed a rant!

I'm sorry you're struggling. I say this with kindness but I think you'd probably do well to get off the internet for a bit. Do some things you would have done on a normal day, make a cake, watch something cheerful on TV, do some exercise/yoga. If you're staying inside 99% of the time then your chances of catching this are very, very small so I would try to forget about it for a bit.

There will always be people breaking the rules. You can't control what they do so it's best to just ignore them and keep you and your family safe indoors.

It's a really difficult situation, I'm sure lots of normally calm people are feeling anxious at the moment. I'd suggest limiting your exposure to the news to one short slot a day - just get the headlines but not endless analysis. Seperate out what you can control - isolating, hand washing etc - from what is not your responsibility. Try some meditation or calming techniques - I listened to a podcast about the AND technique that was helpful - Acknowledge the sensations in your body (knot in stomach, palpitations etc) Name the emotion linked with them, Decide what action to take. There's also a really good podcast by Brene Brown I found helpful about recognising you are not functioning well and having a family plan, with elements like getting exercise, eating well, being kind to each other. I will try to find a link.

shows.cadence13.com/podcast/unlocking-us/episodes/1d7488e6-00ee-4d49-8404-b2fb61af008d?fbclid=IwAR0MMnpTJYlKngxp5KzchPIk2v5UZqvlnXq3oOvlYi3mn8YdUeA_WbHsWgY

Apologies if this doesn't help you at all but I found this video quite calming. It's called "How to get through this crisis" and helps give some perspective.

Thank you all. Really appreciate it. Apologies for the outburst. Today has been tough!

Don't worry, we all have our down days! Here's a wine