I am relatively new to this, I only started suffering from panic attacks and mainly anxiety in March this year. I am still working on finding the right tools that help me calm down, help me live with my anxiety and nervousness. I can relax quite well in the evening and falling asleep also is not my biggest problem. My worries start in the morning. As soon as I wake up, my mind starts wandering, it feels like every nerve in my body starts vibrating. I feel nauseas and I start worrying even more, that I won't be able to eat properly again... I developed a routine with my counselor to get up, when I wake up in the morning, not to try to fall a sleep again. Take a shower, do yoga or something like that, write in my journal, try to eat breakfast. It is just so hard when your body is exhausted and your mind is racing. I try meditation in the morning to relax my mind but my body is just too tired. I try to start my day in a positive mood but it is just so hard. The negative thoughts are just overwhelming. Everyone tells me I have come far since March and that I am doing fine, I just need to give myself time and not put too much pressure on myself. But it is just so hard at the moment to stay positive and motivated...
Mornings are the worst
- Thread starter Claudi
- Start date
Please know you are not alone. I feel the same way. Morning anxiety is the worst. I have no problem sleeping and night is the best time for me also. I see a therapist which does help. I also take fluoxetine and Buspirone. I know that this morning anxiety has been going on for some time for me. Therefore, it is going to take me some time to see results. Some days are good and some not so much. What contributed to my anxiety were several things, the death of a dear friend, stroke of another dear friend, death of two animals, financial issues which resulted in my husband filing bankruptcy, my husband getting Covid and job problems. So every morning, it is like what is going to happen today. Just try to take each little thing as progress. It is hard but give it time.
He Man
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2018
- Messages
- 344
- Reaction score
- 203
Hi.. I see that yoga is part of your morning regimen. Have you tried more vigorous exercise, like running, bike riding, beating up a punching bag, etc.
I find that kind of exercise to be really helpful for purging morning/overnight anxiety.. peace
Anxiety is increased because of our reaction to it. You wake up, OH NO! There is that horrible anxiety again! Dr Claire a Weekes developed an acceptance method for anxiety recovery. It is highly effective to recover from anxiety. I use the method, I can vouch for the effectiveness of the method. Give her a research and get her book, Hope and Help For Your Nerves.
I would love to to more exercise. I have never been a very sporty person but I believe it would really help. I used to love walking and hiking and they have always helped me to relax, clear my mind. But, since my first panic attack my mind is constantly telling my body that it is to weak and then I feel faint and dizzy and feel like my legs will give out and that I will black out and fall. I've had trouble eating again the last week or so and it's been very hot. I know, that during heat you don't feel like eating much and that you sometimes feel dizzy and I keep telling myself that I have never blacked out before from heat or not eating enough. But at the moment, it just doesn't work and then I completely freeze. It is really frustrating...
Jonathan123
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2021
- Messages
- 1,464
- Reaction score
- 1,617
Yes, it is so important how we react to it. We have two choices. either the 'Oh my God, its' here again', and panic, Or, 'Oh, so you are back are you, well I am ready for you and will accept all you do without adding fear to fear'. Reaction is not action. Reaction is always based on previous experience. So when we feel anxious we react according to the memory of what went before. Action is always spontaneous. Just as anxiety can become an habitual way of thinking, so can acceptance. If we accept we act because acceptance is not based in the past but the present. There is no memory involved in acceptance.
Thanks for sharing how you feel in the morning. I feel sorry you are going through this but I must say it feels good to know that I am not alone. As a very anxious person who has been dealing with that for almost 25 years, I can say that mornings are very difficult. People ask me if I have trouble falling asleep, but that's quite easy when compared to what I feel in the morning. But I can say it does get better. The best solution for me is to get out of bed and start dealing with my day....
Jonathan123
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2021
- Messages
- 1,464
- Reaction score
- 1,617
In the mornings our metabolic rate is low. That is the rate our body uses energy. I very much doubt if anyone, even a so called normal person, does not take a while to 'wake up'. But as with all things in anxiety it is all greatly exaggerated. We wake up with a low feeling and that begins the old cycle of despair. 'Will it never go?' And that lays the foundation for a bad day. It will go if you accept the reason for it and not go looking for it. It's not easy I know. You are right. Laying in bed and brooding over it is not good. We need to do all we can to get moving even though another hour in bed may seem good. Forcing ourselves to do things in anxiety is not easy but necessary.
I am still struggling with the acceptance part. I know it is the only way and I want to accept it as a part of me. But right now I feel it is all of me, it is the only thing I am right now and that feeling seems impossible to overcome at the moment.
Jonathan123
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2021
- Messages
- 1,464
- Reaction score
- 1,617
'I am struggling with the acceptance part'. NO!! that is not acceptance. In any case fighting and struggling with 'IT' is futile. Give up all forms of resistance. Yes, I mean that. Resistance uses energy, something we have not a lot of in anxiety. Fighting, struggling is always counter productive and makes things worse. Give up any effort to control 'IT'. Not give in, oh no! Giving up you allow it to do it's worst, but with the knowledge it will not always be that way. By giving up trying to control it you gain control. A paradox which anxiety is full of. So from this moment, now, not tomorrow but now, give up the struggle. Let it come with complete acceptance.