Out Of Control Anxiety

I'm sorry that you're in a bad place emotionally right now.  I don't know if I can say anything that will help, but I'll give it a try.  I do have two questions: do you feel as though you have a good work-life balance, and would your family agree with you if you asked them?

I'm less affected than most. I miss my friends and my family, but I've always preferred my own company, so the isolation hasn't affected me as much as it could have.  I was put on furlough, so that's one less thing to worry about.  I get paranoid about shopping sometimes, so, when I have to shop, I go as close to opening time as possible, to minimise contact with others, and disinfect everything as soon as I'm home.  I also stocked up on tins, but I still shop regularly to conserve / increase what's in the cupboards.  

Reducing stress

Easiest thing I can think of is to stop paying attention to the news, they say no news is good news anyway.   Try just looking at it at one time everyday and ignore it outside that time.

There are plenty of apps / books out there if you want to try meditation.  When it all got too much at work, I'd find somewhere I wouldn't be disturbed, closed my eyes and meditated for 5 to 15 minutes.  During that time, I'd allow whatever I feel or think to surface; acknowledging that they are there and are part of me but recognising that they are not what defines me as an entity. I'd imagine the thought or feeling as a leaf on a river, drifting further and further away while I breathed, until I couldn't see them anymore. 

If meditation isn't for you, there are other activities that can achieve similar effects, such as yoga or juggling.  Or you could just find time to do nothing at all, let yourself feel bored for a while and let your overworked brain take some much needed time off.

If possible, you can try early morning shopping to cut down on your stress, especially at ridiculous hours like 7-8AM.

There are always new hobbies you could try out.  Learning to play an instrument, creative writing, cooking; anything that requires your mind to think about things that are as far removed from your work as possible.

You could focus on the things that the virus cannot affect. Like Donalda, I go for walks to get in touch with nature, to feel humbled by the things humans can't control; the natural world was there before Covid-19 and it will be there long after it has gone. 

Your friends are still there for you, and you're there for them; it's just harder for you to see / talk to each other.  Have you tried WhatsApp?  

You could try free-writing; just get a blank sheet of paper and for 10 minutes write down whatever pops into your head. What you write doesn't have to be planned, make sense, or be grammatically correct, it just has to come from the heart.  At the end, you can do whatever you want with what you've written; file it, crumple it up, tear it to pieces, your call.  

This is a bit far out, but you and your family and friends could pick a time during the week to talk to each other about what's worrying you, or perhaps the everyday things that make you happy; "misery shared is halved, happiness shared is doubled" and all that.

In the night

They say that if you can't sleep you shouldn't try to.  When I can't sleep, I get up and read or exercise.

If you can see the night sky, you could try stargazing.  I don't do it myself (poor night sky visibility), but trying to find constellations would give your imagination something to do.  If that isn't possible, there's always physical activity, as long as it doesn't involve a screen.  

I feel you! I’m perfectly calm one minute and then someone speaks to  me in the street and I’m full panic mode in a second.

Have you tried writing stuff down, art is good to focus, try hypnosis on YouTube or Tapping?

Good luck dude, the community is here for us all.

there is something about looking at mountains, oceans or stars that make me realise I am a tiny speck in the universe and sometimes problems lift a bit, or I realise today will pass and tomorrow will come. I guess it provides a bit of zen.

I can't do it every day, though, eventually the ol' brain says "I'm not going to be fooled by that ol' trick again today!" 

Thanks

( ...Greetings from Me to Plastic. I posted a long answer here before, but upon re-reading your OP it is just a small reply off-topic! Like a PM, in a way. I meant every word of it, though. Taking time off here would cut down upon some stress. There is not much to be done about the 'rest of the civilised world', though.

...Just find something(s) personal, steady, and constant and use them as stress relief. )

Hi Plectrum, I'm sad to hear about your job being so intolerable right now. Its horrible feeling like this right now isnt it. I do the visulisation thing also 

Hi, sorry to hear you are suffering so much with this.

I've bought some dried beans and lentils, like Roswell, and experimenting with making hummus and dal, but also stretching how far meat goes, eg adding lentils to mince in a chilli con carne, so I use less meat. It doesn't affect the flavour much at all. Cooked chickpeas can be frozen and used when needed without the 3 hours of preparation. 

Food like peanut butter or tahini is also very energy dense and lasts a long time.

I didn't stockpile anything, just calculated my calorie need and estimated how long I could stay alive, but now I try not to let the cupboards run too low. 

I'm also very anxious and sleeping badly but mainly due to my job being intolerable. In the background I'm also fed up with all the rules and rule-breakers.

Sometimes I get up at night and read an atlas or encyclopedia. It helps me calm down. I take my mind on a trip that doesn't involve a storyline or anything in particular. Yesterday I was getting in a bad state, so I looked at some mountains in an atlas. I tried to imagine i was there breathing the clean air. 

Here people dont bother with the arrows or whatever else. Theyve just made their behaviour worse than usual its affected their brains! I wish that I could afford to move miles away

Yes - people are behaving very strangely - they've even forgotten how to drive. 

I'm concerned with all the perspex screens in shops and stupid tape on the floor and random 2m rules and basically every little part of British life being taken away.      Everyone is afraid of everyone else.      The government have done such a good job with their fear-propaganda that they've paralysed people's rational brains.

Hi - I've got lots to do - way too much in fact and my fried brain is making it hard to prioritise and get motivated.    I can't do zoom - I use a vintage 2010 Win7 desktop - no camera or mic.

The world is in anarchy right now. Its burning and no one can see it 

I'm struggling too. 

Scared that the virus has caused long term lung damage as I'm still struggling with daily tasks although improved from what I was.

Tired of peoples rubbish attitudes to each other and not thinking about the actions to the stuff they do to others

Fed up of peoples children out in mass causing criminal damage at being a nuisance daily.

Tired and anxious of drug gangs we now to have in our street.

Tired I cant just pop to the shop to get a few things

Scared of money loss after losing my job during to the virus

I hate the world, I feel like people are the virus and their slowly destroying it little by little. It's a scary world we live in and it doesnt have to be this way

Anxiety is a bugger to live with.

Foodwise I've stockpiled some legumes like lentils and beans in dried form in packs. If you do a quick google searce (assuming you've never cooked the dried ones before) they're easy to prepare. Soak them in a container overnight, then drain in a sieve, rinse with fresh water and cook in new water. Lentils need cooking about 25-30 minutes and beans boiling on high heat for 10 minutes, then simmering for an hour usually.

Dried legumes last a long time in storage which might be helpful for easing concerns about famine. 

It is a frustrating time, I am trying to cope by asking myself "Should I be more introverted?" You could try to see it as an opportunity to spend more time studying. Whatever your point of view of the restrictions, they're probably here to stay in some form or another for the rest of this year.

I've set myself a goal this year to read 14 novels and I also want to read some non-fiction books too. You could possibly try setting a goal yourself. Or try to take up learning a musical instrument if you haven't, that can pass an hour or two each day. 

Do you use Zoom? If not, might be worth getting that and asking your friends to have a meeting over it. It's not as good as offline but at least it's a bit more fun than a phone call.

I'm sorry you are going through these high levels of anxiety. I'm feeling so anxious at the moment I feel quite ill. The things that are helping are meditation, three 20 minute mindfulness meditation on Spotify a day. Walking. I try to walk for a couple of hours a day. Also talking to friends which you are doing on here. It's really hard I know.

Good luck     I find shopping to be hell right now.

I stocked up on tinned & frozen protein - it's energy density is higher so less space needed to store.

I'm sorry if I over-reacted,  but I did panic buy in March.

I bought lots of toilet paper, I haven't bought any in the last ten weeks, I still have 22 rolls left. Note to self, don't stock up loo paper.

I bought long life milk.  There hasn't been any shortage of fresh milk.

I bought semi long life food, I can't spell it, but I had to throw away a whole packet of cheeses inside pasta shells, because it started to grow mold.  I bought it mid March, use by date 29 May, mould growing 21 may.  49p wasted.

On second thoughts,  my problems are a bit petty.

Now, I'm of into town to see what's reopened,  it's June.

Sorry, I don't mean to spread any anxiety.

My wife and daughter think I'm prepping with all the tinned food I've accumulated.      I don't seem to be able to balance what is sensible or what is OTT with so little data available to me.      I'm also aware that most of the world is generally three meals away from anarchy.  

My problem is I know too much about stuff and physical modelling and there's not enough data input to keep my world model on an even keel and the data I do receive makes no sense or is bad data so it's stuck in a positive feedback loop and going crazy.

Plastic said:

I'm bothered by the still barely stocked shelves - I'm concerned that there's going to be a famine in the winter with farming locked down.

Now you've got me worried. 

In mid March, I panicked,  along with everyone else, and stocked up.  Unfortunately I bought the wrong things and the supermarkets remained opened.  I was expecting a total,  twelve week lockdown; no shops and not allowed to leave the house.

For the last few weeks I have been eating into my stock, thinking things are getting back to normal.

Now I intend to restock, but I will practice stock rotation to avoid food getting spoilt.