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gregariousBunny4035
709 M Little Steps
PathStep 17 Compassion hearts111 Forum posts41 Forum upvotes59 Current upvotes59 Age GroupAdult Last activeOctober, 2023 Member sinceJune 11, 2018
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Turning Everything Into A Catastrophe
Anxiety Support / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 April 4th, 2023
...See more I don't often get bouts of anxiety but when I do they often hit me pretty hard. I usually fall for the idea of turning everything into a catastrophe. Unfortunately, I have a very toxic family member in my brother. And I think he was the trigger for this recent spell of stress. I had three phone calls in one day from him and that was just too much for me to deal with from him. On top of this, I had to deal with some banking issues. And a new visa for the country I live in. And then I thought the website for my business had been hacked. The only really difficult thing to deal with was my narcissistic brother. He tried to call again and I decided that he was not worth the stress. So I ignored him for a week. The banking was nothing to worry about. Luckily, I have another family member who used to work in a bank and she told me what to do. It was actually nothing to worry about at all. The visa is nothing to worry about. And I called my hosting company and they fixed everything on the site within a couple of hours. But I realise that all it takes is one trigger and then our minds make us believe that everything is falling apart. Usually the things we worry about turn out to be nothing. The famous quote by Mark Twain always comes to mind: I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. And this is very true. I've worried about the most bizarre things but my mind manages to convince me that it is definitely going to happen. But it doesn't. I am reading a book about CBT. And I have just read the part that talks about how we make ourselves believe all these huge catastrophes that will definitely happen. But they don't. It's literally all in our heads. The one thing that I definitely need to do is have a healthy distance between myself and my brother. Then life is very good. Stay well everyone.
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Getting better
Journals & Diaries / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 April 1st, 2023
...See more Things are gradually getting better and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Writing my thoughts out...
Journals & Diaries / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 April 1st, 2023
...See more I write a journal online via an app called Penzu. I find this very useful. But I think I will try to add one here too. I find the more I write about things, the clearer I can see ahead. One thing that I have come to terms with recently is that I need to remove my brother from my life. Unfortunately it took me much too long to realise this. I am not alone in the family to feel this way. Other family members have said how they feel about him. So I am certain my feelings are not just from me alone. The problem is that right now I am going through some legal things where I have to communicate with him. But this is nearly over. And when it is all done I will be able to cut him out of my life forever. Has anyone had a toxic family member like this? It's like they are a vampire *** the very life out of you in every meeting and every conversation... I have friends where I meet them and after seeing them I feel good about seeing them. I feel a sense of fulfillment and joy. But with my brother it just feels like stress. Coming to terms with this has been a bit tricky over the years. I kind of denied it and didn't want to believe it. I believed the whole thing that families must stick together and blood is thicker than water. But for some family members this is just not true. I am counting the days. And then I will be free of him forever.
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I am getting a rough idea how to deal with anxiety
Anxiety Support / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 March 31st, 2023
...See more It is in no way perfect, but it is better than before. I was introduced to the ideas of CBT just over a year ago. This has resonated with me very well. One of the key things that stuck in my mind is the fact - and it is, most definitely, a fact - that the thoughts in our head are not real. We convince ourselves of things and we trick or gaslight ourselves into believing this stuff. But it is just not true. It's like Mark Twain said: “I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” I have done this all my life. From the age of 15 or so. And I can pretty much guarantee that 99.9% of the things I worried about never materialised. The other 0.1% of things that did, I found I was more than capable of dealing with it. I am currently just coming out of a very bad slump. I went into anxiety overdrive then the depression hit me. I was able to tell myself that all the thoughts in my head were untrue. That these were things that are very unlikely to happen to me. I took a very small amount of confidence in thinking like that. Anxiety is like being awake after 24 hours and being in a room filled full of people nagging at you. It took me too long to realise this. But the thoughts in my head are just negative thoughts that have very very little bearing to anything in my own life. I have to have the strength to dismiss these thoughts for what they are. Total nonsense.
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Hi everyone
Newbie Hub / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 April 2nd, 2023
...See more I am new to 7cups. I want to connect with people that have issues with anxiety and depression. Also people that may have toxic family members. I am trying to find my way around the site. It's a little confusing so if anyone has a map or a rough guide that would be great... Anyway, hoping to talk to like minded people. All the best to you!
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Going through a rough patch right now
Depression Support / by gregariousBunny4035
Last post
 April 3rd, 2023
...See more I get bouts of anxiety and depression. Luckily, I don’t get them regularly but between six and nine months I get hit with it. When it comes in, it comes in pretty hard. I get a period of anxiety for a few days. I can’t sleep, I worry about insane outcomes to situations. Then this is followed by a period of depression. And I have zero energy and can barely move. I consider myself very fortunate in that I don’t get this regularly. But I think the negative of that is that I feel totally unprepared for when it arrives. I am going through this now. As I have become more self aware of what the conditions and symptoms are, I know I am coming out of this cycle. I have very little energy plus it is raining heavily where am which doesn’t help, but I know I am on the way out of it. Then I can get back into doing exercise and being productive. I just wanted to write this out and post it on the forum as I find it therapeutic to do it. For those of you that have to deal with this stuff regularly, my heart goes out to you. It is really very difficult to endure.
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