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Why do I keep looking, in a hyper vigilant manner, for the same situation to repeat itself?

6 Answers
Last Updated: 01/26/2021 at 10:17pm
1 Tip to Feel Better
United States
Moderated by

Jennifer Fritz, LMSW, PhD

Clinical Social Work/Therapist

Day to day life can be stressful and overwhelming and my strength is assisting my clients in a supportive, empowering and practical manner.

Top Rated Answers
LondonGirl22
April 7th, 2015 6:46pm
Maybe you want a do-over, a chance to change the outcome. Or maybe you want to relive whatever happened to experience those feelings again. Either way, try to accept what has happened and embrace new things to come.
Anonymous
May 26th, 2015 8:35pm
It's because you think it might happen again, whether it be good or bad. you either want it to happen or are terrified of it, thats what a anxiety is.
Anonymous
June 15th, 2015 1:20pm
it maybe coz of you have lost a piece of your heart there. maybe you have done some mistake or you have an immense loss and so you want to be prepared for it so that you may not encounter it again.
Anonymous
August 17th, 2015 8:00pm
you just ant to be a happy and you can follow up by thinking and believing that the old behaviors are good but reality there not!
NoLongerPale40
December 5th, 2017 2:36pm
Unfortunately it's a vicious cycle because the more we look for something, the more we see it. If someone says 'see how many red cars you can spot', you will see SO many more red cars that you would have noticed otherwise. You might have had an issue in the past where a situation has occurred again and it can bring a fear that it will repeat itself. I highly, highly recommend mindfulness. This calms the fight or flight response and rewires the brain (there are some excellent resources under 'path'. You actually see MORE clearly.
ArtchickHB
January 26th, 2021 10:17pm
I'm someone who struggles with something similar due to my c-PTSD. It is a normal trauma response, and there's nothing abnormal about it. It can take time and practice to find your way forward, so give yourself some grace here. Hyper-vigilance for me has been very challenging at times, but it helps me to remind myself that my perception of danger right now does not actually mean there is danger. I know it's different emotionally than logically, but sometimes when I can't control the emotional I try to reach in to the logical. It doesn't work for me every time, but it works frequently. Your trauma where you've been, not who you are, and there is ALWAYS a way through. I'm here if you need someone to listen.