Anyone get to a point with anxiety that they just thought f**k it?

[Ilovedogs1]

Hey. Been suffering with anxiety and intrusive thoughts for most of this year. I've woke up this morning feeling like I can't keep this level of worry/anxiety and just feel like f**k it. Might not last long but anyone else?

What do you mean?

Not sure if we're talking about the same thing - but I found I was living in fear of having a panic attack / anxiety attack which would involve physical shaking. I avoided all the potential triggers etc.

Eventually I got so tired of it all that when I started feeling the initial anxiety I started to say "bring it on" and amazingly the feelings often would just dissipate. Eventually got very good CBT and I learned the tools to manage my thought spirals : catastrophic thinking.

Hopefully that helps?

I don't understand what you mean by 'fuck it'?

@anotheranotheranotheranother I mean like you spend so much time feeling anxious, analysing the thoughts and feelings, spending so much time in your head going round and round un circles but not really getting anywhere but eventually you just think fuck it. I'm to tired and worn out to do this anymore I'm just going to concentrate on watching a film or something and I cant be arsed to think of anything else. Fuck it!

I wish I could think like that but anxiety doesn't let me, its intrusive.. otherwise everyone would just think Fuck it and just not have anxiety 😂

Isn’t that possibly a good way to deal with anxiety?

I think the point of anxiety is that anxiety sufferers can't do that. That's what anxiety is, that you can't just think f-it and go and watch a film and not worry.

That's what someone who doesn't suffer from high anxiety levels can do.

I have dipped into depression since losing my ddad. And it’s such a relief compared to the previous anxiety. I just can’t summon the energy to care if a bad thing happens.

I know I should do something about this depression but I don’t care enough or have the energy to.

The way I effectively cured my crippling anxiety ( I couldn’t even go in shops or answer the phone at one point)
was to have a bit of an existential epiphany. I realised I was just one of many millions of bald, ugly apes on a planet. I don’t matter, no one ( except a tiny handful of people) even knows I exist, no one gives a shit what I’m doing, wearing, look like or anything. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own little world they will never remember me. It’s incredibly liberating. I also fucked off all the negative, hard work people from my life, my junky nonce brother, the toxic fuckers in my family, old friends that had bad effects on me and so on. I bloody love my life now! I literally wake up each day,look after my kids, do the job I love (mostly from home) and potter about gardening. I go to the occasional show/ concert- sometimes alone and it’s bloody great. So it’s not so much ‘fuck it’ it’s ‘fuck them’. Stop caring about real or imagined people. Just do what you want each day and focus on your immediate little bubble, it’s the only place you matter.

I can't really relate tbh.

Anxiety isn't controllable by a 'fuck it' - if it were surely we would all juts crack on

'Fuck it' is what I tell myself when I'm trying g to lose weight but decide to have a huge bar of chocolate.

Sorry OP, I just don't really get it

I have done this.

I became so afraid of panic attacks… now I think oh fuck it i hope I have one I’ll just find a nice person they can help me. It’ll give someone a nice story to tell their husband over dinner.

it consumes you. It has made me feel better.

Agree that my experience of anxiety would not allow this. When I’m really in the throes of it, I go beyond actually worrying or even thinking about what initially triggered the anxiety. At that point it’s the exhausting relentlessness of the physical symptoms and general feeling of being trapped that takes over. The problem is being stuck with a racing heart, digestive problems, insomnia, etc. If I could just decide I was bored with that and think about something else instead I’d be quite happy!

But I do think a version of what you’re talking about can help in some situations. I’m afraid of flying and have read that leaning into your panic when rather than trying to calm yourself down when you’re very anxious/panicking on a plane is helpful. I have tried it and it does seem to work at least sometimes because it’s too tiring to maintain such a keyed-up state for too long.

I'm another who has started to tell my intrusive voice to fuck off/treating it as a separate person who is an arse hole and it has made a difference. It can be a learned strategy might not work for all but worth a try. It's basically the same strategy as described in the book Dare by Barry McDonagh if memory serves.

Anxiety rises in the morning. Try Paul McKenna hypnotherapy for anxiety - some of his trances are free only. Also I used CBT and exercise 💐

Free online I meant!

This is the strategy advised in ‘Anxious Parents, Anxious kids’, to talk back your anxiety. Imagine it as a physical entity and talk back to it. I guess it’s a way to separate your anxiety from yourself, and in that way it captures you less intensely. I also guess it’s a similar approach to that for mindfulness meditation for stress/ pain.

Absolutely. I’ve done the same. It’s so freeing. I love my life now x

I get this. I think it’s a sign of having a very anxious disposition but not having a full blown anxiety disorder. I definitely have extremely anxious tendencies and probably spend too much time worrying about things than is healthy. But the “fuck it” feeling is what ensures that I keep living my life and going to work and doing things day in day out. So I think it’s actually a good coping mechanism. I think “in the grand scheme of things so what if I’m worried. It won’t change anything. And if I have a panic attack then it will stop at some point and I’ll go home and have a Kit Kat and I’ll be fine”.

Nice one! Yes it’ll pass and tonight I’ll be on the sofa eating a biscuit.

Yes. I suppose it all depends on the individual but I do get to that point where I am so fed up of being afraid that I do just say to myself " feel the fear and do it anyway"! It kinda works sometimes but the thing is I feel better that I actually took that step.