Therapist says that when normal coping mechanisms stop working it’s usually a sign that you’ve either recovered or relapsed significantly and that therefore you need to change strategies. I’m hoping that “As I’ve had more to be stressed about” is used here in the positive sense- that you’ve taken on more responsibilities and are able to do more of the things you want, which while awesome, handling more stress also means, well higher stress levels.
Since Doing A Productive isn’t helping you anymore, we’re gonna Marie Kondo that strategy, thank it for it’s help, and let it go (for now. If this is a relapse issue we can always come back to it later).
Some other strategies that might help Under the cut becuase this got kinda long:
People talk about ‘acting like you own the place’ but one thing I find useful when I’m anxious in a new place is pretending that it’s familiar to me. Pretending like I’ve been there before and acting like I’m remembering it.
And really every new place becomes just a place you’ve already been, eventually. We’re only nervous because we’re stuck viewing it from the wrong side of time.
Feeding Nassarius Snails – The Nassarius Snail is an efficient scavenger and detritus eater and is the perfect member of your reef aquarium cleanup crew. You will be pleased at how quickly a small group of Nassarius Snails will clear detritus, uneaten food, decaying organics, and fish waste.
So I tried going to bed at a reasonable hour and now it’s 2AM and I am very much A W A K E so I’m gonna be productive and set up things so I can have a real breakfast before therapy tomorrow.
I am feeling the fuck out of this except replace productivity with anxiety and bam we are basically twins
As someone that’s lived with anxiety since early childhood:
Choosing to Do A Productive is the most reliable way to kick an anxiety attack I’ve found yet.
It’s a pain in the ass to develop this habit (Goodness knows I fail at it all the time) and it requires having A Productive you can feasibly do at 4AM (vaccuming is right out) but if you can do SOMETHING it consumes enough focus that anxiety fit is relegated to the back burner where it chokes like a candle without air.
Potential Productives To Do In The Wee Hours Of The Morning When Everything Is Too Much:
set things up for future you to have a nice breakfast
actually just have breakfast right now, you’re probably hungry
gather at least some of the trash into bags and put them by the door to take out.
If it is safe to do so, actually take out the trash
Water your plants. They don’t care that it’s nighttime. They thorsty.
Clean you pet’s food and water bowls
An Shower.
Change your sheets
Take everything out of your backpack/Purse/carryall, throw out the trash and at least shake out the accumulated cumbs and crud.
Do a load of laundry
if u don’t have laundry, take the covers off your sofa and launder those. they need it and you’ll like having a nice-smelling couch.
Answer An Email
Do Some dishes. Maybe not all of them if they’ve been piling up, but some.
Consume A Vegetable
Check your snail mail.
anything you’d be thrilled to wake up and find out had been done in the night for you by gnomes? go do that thing. Future You will be so happy.
This post has been trending in my notes again, so here it is for anyone else who might need it.
Fun fact: if you know your feline body language, you’ll notice that the lynx is deferring to the housecat. As far as these two are concerned, the housecat is the higher-ranking cat.
In Austria, we call kittens at that age “Autodromkatzerl”, which translates to “bumper car kittens”, because of the way their tail sticks up. It’s not a really common word, but a very cute one, I think
this is a genuinely delightful bit of knowledge, thank you for sharing this!! omg
