pumping gas, other normal tasks

[MellowCat]

What normal types of tasks that everyone else does without thinking give you anxiety?


Pumping gas does it to me. I don't know why. I've never had a bad experience at a gas station. Driving is not a problem. Going in a store or paying is not a problem. Actually having to get gas and doing so for some reason makes me anxious.

 

[lexinonomous]

Driving on the freeway gives me a terrible amount of anxiety. It's not so much my driving that scares me, but the fact that there might be a drunk driver on the road. It scares me that I could end up being someone that is killed because of someone else's actions. There have been so many times that I've ended up taking side streets due to witnessing someone driving crazy on the road.


I get nervous while pumping gas. Like you, I haven't had any sort of bad experience at a gas station, but I know that it's fairly common for people to be assaulted at gas stations. I dislike pumping my gas alone at night. I try my best to wait until my boyfriend can go with me, but there have been times where I'm forced to go alone since I've run out of gas. It gives me a tremendous amount of anxiety and I've ever so much as stopped pumping and left prior to filling my tank.

 

[Robilas]

I get very anxious when I need to park. I am pretty decent at it, but it still makes me nervous: if a see that it's too hard to park in a certain spot and it will take some time, I'd rather circle around the place for 15 minutes looking for an easier spot. I'm afraid of hitting another car when parking and starting to argue with another person, so I do everything I can to avoid it.

 

[sidney]

When I was under meds for sleeping troubles, those sleeping pills were being forced on me for more than 4 weeks already and that's way beyond the recommended time frame of taking it. So I temporarily developed a phobia/anxiety for riding all sorts of vehicles as side effects of said medication. The phobia occupied my mind too in an unhealthy way for a while. Thank God that the side effects of those drugs faded as time goes by, and a few weeks after I stopped taking those pills, I was able to ride vehicles again without panicking.

 

[Sue]

Driving with another licensed driver in the car. I don't mind driving with my kids or grandchildren but driving with somebody else I always second guess myself. I always let my fiance drive when we go anywhere together because having him as a passenger just causes me so much anxiety. I end up making stupid mistakes because I get so nervous and worked up. I use to get a drive to work with a co-worker she suggested that we take turns driving and as much as I wanted to I just couldn't do it.

 

[pwarbi]

I've said before that anxiety for me, is just a lack of confidence in doing things and so everyday normal things that I used to be able to do, start to panic me and often for no good reason. Going grocery shopping, filling the car up, even making a phone call can be too stressful for me to even contemplate some days and while in the past I used to beat myself up over it, now I know it's just a bad day and tomorrow will more than likely be different.


Watching football is one of my favourite hobbies and over the years I've watched my team home and away on many occasions and crowds haven't bothered me at all. Even when I first got diagnosed with anxiety, that was something that never worried me and I was still able to enjoy the match day experience. A few weeks ago though I decided to take a trip to the stadium when there wasn't a game on. I'd done that journey many times before but this time I got an overwhelming panic come over me and I couldn't physically move and had to sit down for a few minutes before I managed to compose myself. A wave of panic came over me and then went as quickly as it came, and so that just shows I think that it can just come and go for no apparent reason so knowing that, while could make you feel worse because you may not know when it will happen, can also make you feel better because you know that it will pass eventually and you'll be able to do those things you can't do this minute another time or another day.

 

[fuzyon]

Pumping gas is an issue for me as well and I don't even have my driving license yet, haha! I feel like people are judging me and I'm afraid I'd mess soomething up even though it's a mindless task. I'm also really anxious when buying things, actually having to make eye contact with the cashier and briefly talk to her gives me a sense of anxiety. Phone calls are also filled with anxiety because I don't know what to do while I'm on the phone, plus I'm concious about what I'm saying and my voice so that's pretty bad..

 

[MellowCat]

Pumping gas is an issue for me as well and I don't even have my driving license yet' date=' haha! I feel like people are judging me and I'm afraid I'd mess soomething up even though it's a mindless task. [/quote']
That's pretty much what happens to me. For some really weird reason I feel like I will do it wrong or people will think I'm doing it wrong. And I feel really self conscious while I do it, imaging that people around me are thinking, "why is she pumping gas? she obviously doesn't know how!" It's really ridiculous, but it's a very real and scary feeling that I've had ever since I can remember.

 

[justsayyes]

Even performing the simplest tasks, as long as i know someone is watching me do them, i get so uncomfortable and end up messing things up, add in to the fact that I'm a born klutz, having people around while doing something gets me anxious. I'm just really not good on doing things with audience.

 

[rz3300]

Well I cannot say that pumping gas is something that I really fear or get anxious while doing, but I certainly see the point, and I get the same way with other seemingly simple tasks that others can do quite easily. The first thing that comes to mind for me is swiping a card at work. It is a pretty populated building where I work so there is a lot of foot traffic, and I am always afraid of messing it up and keeping other people waiting, and then I just get more and more nervous. It is just another part of life that we have to deal with, though.

 

[kgord]

I don't ordinarily get anxious pumping gas, but I really hate when I have a problem with the pump and have to see an attendant. I am always thinking, they are thinking..."Why can't she work the pump?" What kind of moron is she? however, I just tell myself, they just work there, and they probably have to end up helping someone at least once a week, maybe more. So, I don't have any reason to feel bad about it. Mind over matter.

 

[2010Bentley]

Driving on the freeway gives me a terrible amount of anxiety. It's not so much my driving that scares me, but the fact that there might be a drunk driver on the road. It scares me that I could end up being someone that is killed because of someone else's actions. There have been so many times that I've ended up taking side streets due to witnessing someone driving crazy on the road.
I get nervous while pumping gas. Like you, I haven't had any sort of bad experience at a gas station, but I know that it's fairly common for people to be assaulted at gas stations. I dislike pumping my gas alone at night. I try my best to wait until my boyfriend can go with me, but there have been times where I'm forced to go alone since I've run out of gas. It gives me a tremendous amount of anxiety and I've ever so much as stopped pumping and left prior to filling my tank.

I understand how you feel. When I had my first full-blown panic attack, I was driving down a freeway with semis whizzing by, and me feeling like I was going to die.

 

[Alex]

I can do the washing up as a task that requires little thought, which is why sometimes I don't mind. Generally things like that or cleaning I don't mind doing because there is an end result too and I take my time and do it as and when. That's why I hate it when anyone is in the room watching. My dad is ill right now so watches and I tell him to leave the room as he always has something to say, but it's his way of doing things and not mine. I wish people would get that, that we all have our own way and no one way is better than another, and I have told him directly.

 

[jaden11218]

Pumping gas is one of my difficult tasks too. I've had my license about four years, and I have only had to put gas in my own vehicle less than ten times. I manage to have my boyfriend around to do it most of the time, or sometimes I will send people with the money to fill it if they borrow my car. Every time I have ever had to put gas in my own vehicle, I have had to ask for help. I pay, put the thing in my tank, and then can't figure out the buttons and switches to make the gas actually pump. I have never successfully put gas in my own car by myself. Also, I've heard too many gas station horror stories, like people hiding HIV infected needles under handles, or strangers climbing into your car if you forget to lock it.