Does anyone else get anxious when they hear a knock on the front door?

Exactly Iain, I dont' seek them out, but if they seek me out then they're fair game, I once made a Mormon run away from me in the street when I argued him round to my point of view. Poor guy, I think I gave him a real crisis of faith, which if you're a religious or spiritual person is a real injury, I saw him some days later surrounded by elders, he saw me and started shaking all over.

I used to feel shocked and get a rush of adrenaline whenever the letterbox suddenly slammed. The same when someone would knock on the door (our original doorbell was located some way off to the side, so wasn't always noticed).

I've found that having a Ring doorbell has improved things enormously.

Whenever someone starts walking up the front path, the Ring chime (along with any other devices on which I've enabled alerts) plays a delicate tinkling of bells. If they press the doorbell, my chosen chime is similarly gentle.

I also prefer not to open the door to visitors. The doorbell enables playing your choice of standard messages to those who press the button, including one that asks them to leave any parcels outside. They can also leave a message if they wish.

Phone alerts include snapshot pictures of visitors, so I can decide whether I need to go to the door. I can also speak with them via my phone.

If someone leaves a parcel without having pressed the doorbell, then the app recognises it and notifies me.  

This perhaps reads like an advertorial, but I'm sharing because it's made such a beneficial difference to my everyday life - and could maybe help others with similar anxiety-related issues.   

Not all Ring doorbells have all of these features. Cost aside, getting one installed can seem daunting. But Amazon also offers installation services when buying from them. Good times to buy with a discount include Prime Day (for Amazon Prime members) and Black Friday - with other sales / offers through the year. Other brands of video doorbell are also available! :)

More info: https://en-uk.ring.com/pages/video-doorbell-cameras

I get a wave of anxiety and feel like I will run away whenever my door or my phone rings. Even when I have been expecting it and even if I know exactly when it is supposed to happen.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I am happy to have found this site as it's great to find plenty of people I can relate to.

Number said:

It might be over rated, but it is immutable.

Alas immutable is something I have come to take with a big old pich of salt.

Once you start looking into quantim physics you start to realise that things are really not as solid or defined as we think. If you start researching into the nature of time and realise it is not as linear as we imagine then the very construct of reality we hold true starts to look decidedly shaky.

Look into issues like quantum entanglement and you realise the speed of light is not a limit at all, look into gravity dilation and the nature of time goes out the window etc - we built the rules of reality largely to avoid looking into the abyss that lies beneath it all.

Sometimes it is nice to forget all the facts and live in the imaginary construct we call reality - it helps us from losing the plot.

I have come to understand that reality is like truth.  It might be over rated, but it is immutable.

Number said:

I struggle (therefore) to understand the point being made. 

It is more to express the way some intelligent people (and TheCatWoman is clearly in this category) can take well meaning if misguided individuals who try to sell their perspective of the world to you, and can conversationally eviscerate their arguement and leave them desperate to leave.

I used to do this long ago when I had spare time and it isn't pretty and I suspect I was being cruel.

In the response I was playing with words knowing TheCatWomans abilities.

Maybe she is like Schroedingers cat - in a quantum state where no-one knows if she is there or not. Or maybe I'm just playing with obscure and dark humour after a long day of dealing with someone buying my flat and sending the money to the wrong account - painful and tedious but finally sorted and left me drained.

Reality is highly overrated.

Obscurity (ironically) is not my bag.

Observational reality, IS my bag....so yes, I have seen what the average cat will do to the average mouse.......it takes time.....and is gruesome, with only entrails remaining.

I struggle (therefore) to understand the point being made.  I say this with no "edge" whatsoever, I'm merely expressing my genuine lack of understanding.

Have you seen what cats do to mice? It was a well chosen analogy if you know TheCatWoman.

Allegedly.

Dark comment?!   I will choose to ascribe it to humour.

TheCatWoman said:

if I'm lucky I might get a Jehovas Witness to play with

Like a cat with a mouse...

I disconnected my doorbell as I hated the noise. If there's a knock at the door it's either the post person or a kid from next door asking for their football which has gone over my fence

I can relate to all this as I have had an terrible experience with the authorities this year that I am fighting for justice so even now seeing a car drive up to a neighbour I do not know or a person in the road I do not know brings on extreme anxiety

Me too I'm the same just completely wiped out by anxiety when there's a knock at the door...mind starts racing and jumps to the worst conclusions. Exact same thing happens when my phone rings, I keep it on silent so half the time I don't hear it ring. 

It's like the postman comes and I'm to scared to open the door. Really pathetic but I can't help it. Anxiety just rails me.

My mind also jumps to conclusions.

Last Thursday, I received a knock on the door. I assumed it was Sinn Fein canvassing for the election. However, it was for a Prize Draw; which I subscribed to.

I get fed up with the phone ringing or a text arriving, but almost the only person who knocks at the door is the postman or delivery driver, if I'm lucky I might get a Jehovas Witness to play with.

Same here on all those!!

Hi,

All the time, I have had CCTV put in as a preventative measure. Similarly, none of my telephone lines accept withheld numbers. I taped mine letterbox-wise, though that may have more to do with the dogs tearing my post to shreds.

I don't think what you are doing is remarkably inconsistent with others.

Im exactly the same. Also, no one should knock unless you know them, a planned appointment or its mail. 

My phone is permanently set to silent.