Does Anyone Else Experience Anxiety Over Things They Love or Enjoy?

[Aleece13]

Storms... I absolutely love thunder, rain, lightning. However, this past year I've been unable to leave my house during one or I'm on edge the entire time. I love being outside during storms, but I've had to fight the urge to panic at the slightest breeze lately. I don't understand why things I've always loved and enjoyed are now causing me stress? Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[Laneorexorcist]

I think that I agree with you on the rain thing. I love slow rain when I'm on my house and it's really fun to be out when there's a storm... I think that's one of my favorite pleasures in life. But at the same time, when I'm on my house and it's raining really hard I get extremely anxious and it's better if I put some music on instead of hearing to it.


It's something that I really need to work on.

 

[fuzyon]

Sometimes it's hard to even do things you love or enjoy. For example, I'm a programmer and I love doing it, I'm mainly a designer but I can code really well. Recently I've been getting anxiety over the stupidest things, I feel like my motivation and design abilities have gone down quite a bit and there's nothing I can do about it. My boss tells me I'm doing better than ever but it's hard to think he's telling the truth. I love playing guitar as well but recently I just stopped, picking it up seems like a chore to me now for some reason.

 

[EmmVee87]

The funny thing is, when I was small I was a major dancer - ballet, tap, jazz... the whole thing - but as I got older I sort of fell out of it. Over the past few years I've been trying to get back into, but it has been extremely difficult. I've managed to force myself to push ahead because I KNOW I love it, but... despite knowing that knowledge, each and every time I go to a class I have to psyche myself up for it. So I feel you!

 

[CeliVega]

I can't relate to the thunderstorm issue, but I can relate to anxiety over the things we enjoyed.


At first you discovered it, which could be anything, it could be writing, playing a musical instrument, going to the gym, learning to sing, which turned into your new hobby, new passion.


It was fun at first. You discovered all these new things you have never learned or seen before. You learned a lot new things from your new passion, and you get better at doing whatever it is that you are doing. You feel accomplished because of all these new things that you have learned. You get even more motivated to continue this new hobby or passion because of all these accomplishment and improvements.


And then at some point along the way, your progress started to slow down. You are no longer learning new things. It takes harder for you to improve on this passion of yours. You have become "stagnant" at doing the things you love or enjoy.


So you developed a kind of anxiety or negative feeling. Because you hate that feeling of failing or not improving during your practices.


Sorry if these doesn't make sense. I just wrote how I feel about the matter based on my own experiences.

 

[Aleece13]

I can't relate to the thunderstorm issue, but I can relate to anxiety over the things we enjoyed.
At first you discovered it, which could be anything, it could be writing, playing a musical instrument, going to the gym, learning to sing, which turned into your new hobby, new passion.


It was fun at first. You discovered all these new things you have never learned or seen before. You learned a lot new things from your new passion, and you get better at doing whatever it is that you are doing. You feel accomplished because of all these new things that you have learned. You get even more motivated to continue this new hobby or passion because of all these accomplishment and improvements.


And then at some point along the way, your progress started to slow down. You are no longer learning new things. It takes harder for you to improve on this passion of yours. You have become "stagnant" at doing the things you love or enjoy.


So you developed a kind of anxiety or negative feeling. Because you hate that feeling of failing or not improving during your practices.


Sorry if these doesn't make sense. I just wrote how I feel about the matter based on my own experiences.

I understand what you mean... I also think you are correct we become dormant in things we love once we reach a certain place. The storm thing is just where I have noticed great anxiety lately, I live in Oklahoma with its bipolar weather and for some reason it's now starting to effect me weirdly.


My passion is writing and I have moments where I get into, I'm motivated and ready to finish my novels or be spontaneous with a brand new story. These moments don't last long and halfway through I feel like I'm standing still like I haven't really done anything. There is a strong negative feeling that comes with things like that, especially if you're passionate about them. Then you feel worse when you aren't making headway or feel like your not improving anymore.


Thanks for sharing!

 

[Aleece13]

The funny thing is, when I was small I was a major dancer - ballet, tap, jazz... the whole thing - but as I got older I sort of fell out of it. Over the past few years I've been trying to get back into, but it has been extremely difficult. I've managed to force myself to push ahead because I KNOW I love it, but... despite knowing that knowledge, each and every time I go to a class I have to psyche myself up for it. So I feel you!

Eventually, you will overcome the dread and hurdle of negative emotions towards dance. Maybe, it is because you have been out of the game a minute or you just don't feel you have the ability anymore. Either way if you truly love dance and can't see yourself giving up on it then don't. It may be a battle, but in the end if it's where you want to be you will find it getting easier. It could take a little time to feel right again, but it will happen.


Thanks for sharing!

 

[Aleece13]

Sometimes it's hard to even do things you love or enjoy. For example, I'm a programmer and I love doing it, I'm mainly a designer but I can code really well. Recently I've been getting anxiety over the stupidest things, I feel like my motivation and design abilities have gone down quite a bit and there's nothing I can do about it. My boss tells me I'm doing better than ever but it's hard to think he's telling the truth. I love playing guitar as well but recently I just stopped, picking it up seems like a chore to me now for some reason.

You sound like you have lost your drive with the guitar playing. Anxiety about work can cause you to feel not up to par in other aspects of your life for sure... I'm sorry you feel this way. I have gone through that feeling before, but if your boss says your doing better then ever then maybe the problem is not with work. It sounds like you are suffering depression to me. When I fall into a depression nothing feels right. I feel like I'm failing at the simplest of tasks and as much as I try to do better, that residual feeling casts a shadow over me. The first question I would ask myself is, when did I start feeling this way... Go from there. There could possibly be a root cause, something simple or more prominent, but if you can figure it out it'll be easier to overcome.

 

[Aleece13]

I think that I agree with you on the rain thing. I love slow rain when I'm on my house and it's really fun to be out when there's a storm... I think that's one of my favorite pleasures in life. But at the same time, when I'm on my house and it's raining really hard I get extremely anxious and it's better if I put some music on instead of hearing to it.
It's something that I really need to work on.

I understand completely! I love the sound of rain and wind against the house, but as it gets harder my anxiety rises. I need to work on overcoming it, I just don't know how.


Thanks for sharing!

 

[cluckeyo]

Overeating may be kind of an anxiety activity. I do enjoy eating good food. I enjoy eating whatever I want. But if I am suddenly stressed about something, I often run to the kitchen. Eating is a pleasant activity that calms my nerves. It is a terrible habit that I would like to break. It is interesting the think that it might be partly an anxiety issue. It probably is.

 

[Aleece13]

Overeating may be kind of an anxiety activity. I do enjoy eating good food. I enjoy eating whatever I want. But if I am suddenly stressed about something, I often run to the kitchen. Eating is a pleasant activity that calms my nerves. It is a terrible habit that I would like to break. It is interesting the think that it might be partly an anxiety issue. It probably is.

I used to do the overeating as a way to calm my nerves, it is definitely a self-soothe technique I used to cope with emotions, especially when I was anxious. Not everyone does it and I have gotten a lot better about it, but I'm much like you... I love food! Which skewered the line between eating cause I was hungry or eating because I felt a specific way. I had to go to extreme lengths to break my habit, hopefully yours wont be so hard to accomplish.