@spidey said:
Stefan,

You haven’t hit rock bottom. Have a shelter over your head? Have food in front of you? Have clothes? Have a bed? Mate, a lot of people in this world don’t even have anything like this. One thing I’d strongly suggest you doing (which btw I’ve started doing and I’ve been feeling eons better) is writing gratitude lists. Every day for the next week write a list of what you are thankful and grateful for. From the smallest things in life, to the simplest, to the most complex. I guarantee you that by doing this and reflecting on these lists you will begin to feel much better.

In terms of your anxiety, I can strongly say that it is possible to overcome it. Coming from someone who suffered stuttering over my early school years and developed anxiety when speaking up in front of people, I have managed to down-grade my anxiety to be very minimal now. I even catch myself in moments where I am fluent, and can introduce myself fully without a thought of doubt. This is tricky, but it requires a lot of discipline to overcome. And it starts off training your subconscious mind. It’s hard to understand and explain, but one of the bigger things I’ve did was just not think about it. When I would focus my mind on my anxiety, my fears, my stresses, my body would adapt accordingly and before I knew it, I would be in full anxiety mode, and it sucks. What I did, however, was that I acknowledged my anxiety attack happen one time, and I literally had an out of body experience where I looked down on myself in the scenario I was in, and realized my triggers. By doing so, I was able to catch that transition point between calm and tranquil, to heightened/alert/anxiety state. In that transition point, it is there where you need to harness your physiology and calm your body. But you can’t avoid scenarios that will trigger anxiety. To overcome it you need to expose yourself to these scenarios and try to adapt every time. It is scary, I know, I’ve been there, but it is possible.

Stefan, I literally made this account in response this thread because I want to help you to overcome this scenario. I couldn’t ignore reading your opening post knowing someone is going through this and here I am not acting to help out, especially being in this same scenario at one point.

I wish you all the best, and if you want to keep in touch message me, and I’d be more than happy to help you overcome this.

Cheers,

Brett.

Thank you so much for making an account just to reply to little old me…
You’re right that I haven’t hit rock bottom. I still have a lot I could lose.
But sometimes it feels like I down own the things in my life.
If it wasn’t for my Mum, I’d probably be homeless (I still live at home). I worry that I’m 25 next year and still feel tied down by all these mental health problems. I fear that I wouldn’t be able to stay in a job to support myself and pay the bills if I had my own home/rent.
So, although I haven’t really hit Rock bottom, it certainly feels like I have at times.
It feels like I’ve lost so many times, and I’ve tried so many things.
Albeit, at times I’ve jumped from idea to idea to frequently.

I did do the gratitude journal for a few weeks a year or two back.
It was one of Rhonda Byrne’s books (She wrote The Secret) that led me to this, but you hear about being grateful all the time…
It’s hard to be grateful when things build up and you feel like everything would be better without you, but yeah… I need to practice this again. I drove past someone with one leg, limping along with a crutches and that was a reminder.
Sometime’s I struggle to see enough reminders like that. Everyone out there in the World (when doing shopping and stuff) seems to be having a better time than me. But, at the same time, my anxiety is bad and things become a blur, so I’m not really noticing things in others. 1 in 10, or whatever it is, are probably feeling similarly to me. Or else, those 1 in 10 are shut away at home where I can’t see them.

Being mindful of your own thoughts and actions is sensible too.
I think having healthy distractions is a good idea.
Hence, in my old job – which was car insurance (dull) – I would struggle to NOT think of everything wrong with my life.
Because the present moment was uncomfortable and I couldn’t throw myself into it.

Thanks again for your reply.
I still have no idea what I’m doing. I left my job last week and have about £1700 in my bank.
I pay my Mum to live at home, buy food and run a car, etc.
That money will last 2-3 months if I hold back on spending.
I really want a part-time job away from too many people (retail) so I can have time to sort my mental health out.
After working full-time, I’d come home exhausted with no energy to do anything else, aside from maybe watch TV.

Stef