So all day today I have had memory issues - nothing major, just forgetting my phone, and things like that. Really just minor inconveniences.
But then as I was driving home from helping Sharon and Sam get a few things from the mall, all of a sudden my anxiety went through the roof and I had to take some deep breaths to try and calm down.
Are those two things related? I don't know for sure, but they might be.
Can I do anything? Only what I did, which was to try and ground myself.
ah, well.
hugs appreciated
Comments
Anxiety
Forty years ago I started having anxiety attacks. It got so bad I couldn't force myself to leave my apartment. I had a young family and had no idea what I would do to support them with those attavks.
Somehow I forced myself to go to a bookstore. I bought several self help books by Dr. Claire Weekes. I had taken a lot of psychology courses in college and understood what she was advocsting.
Face your fears
Accept what is happening,
Float
Let time pass
Less than six months later I had accepted a new job that required a great deal of air travel.
Two years later I was doing work that required quite a lot of public speaking.
Six years later I had started my own business and within six months had forty-five employees. That business lasted over three decades.
I haven't had an anxiety attack in thirty years.
I know not everyone is alike but for most it's important to get proper rest, exercise regularly, eat properly, and avoid alcohol and drugs.
Good luck! What you're facing isn't imaginary and can be debillatating.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
so sorry
sending hugs your way
A couple more
headed your way.
"I always gots" a Huggles surplus, and so "grab away".
I think you have most of the pieces figured out.
I'm going to add a guess, and nope, I don't need to know if I'm right.
First off, I have no doubt that high stress can 'make' us drop things (like take cell phone with ...)
Here's my guess - your day out with Sam & Sharon was stressful/anxiety provoking. I don't think they "Did Anything" ... you were just in a watchful, 'waiting for other shoe to drop' place. So all day you were "using up a lot of spoons" to keep the anxiety or whatever at bay. That mental energy of keeping the stress 'at bay' didn't leave quite enough energy & focus for remembering 'the little things'.
Halfway home, you didn't need to "keep your shields up". The shields came down, and you got the "whole pile" all at once. Whereupon, you did exactly the right thing - calming breaths and centering.
Next two right things - you "talked to us" & asked for Huggles. (Which, as I've mentioned, are delivered at the Speed of Thought.) Talking -er- writing to us, helped you clarify what was going on.
I'm going to score your day at 9 out 10. You get the last point if you figure where the anxiety, or whatever, was coming from. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. No matter. All-in-all, "Ya done real good" Dorothy.
--- --- ---
Me? In a grocery store, ff I plan my route carelessly, or have need to go past or into the morgue ... I don't just see a bloody pile that others buy for hamburgers ... I see the 'embedded Suffering' behind it. My shield's service life is measured in a small number of minutes. One time they were down to 30%. If my shields hit zero, I would need to grab my carry bags and leave the store. Just walk out. What's in my shopping cart/trolley ... some poor clerk gets to re-shelve it.
I Was In My Twenties
When I got promoted to be Project Manager, my first time in charge of a job. I would worry whether I was doing things right and would wake up in the night yelling for concrete deliveries. That passed after a couple of months and I didn't get any more attacks until my late forties when I moved to a new company as Managing Director. I was going to a meeting one day when I started to sweat profusely and almost passed out, obviously stress-related. That episode lasted only a few hours and fortunately hasn't recurred.
The point being, Dot, that it can happen to any of us and without warning. It's nothing to be ashamed of and I'm only too happy to offer whatever comfort you need. If it's hugs you want then I'll send double the number required, particularly as you're in Canada where you need that extra bit of warmth.