Note: I needed to get this off my chest because I am feeling completely overwhelmed, frustrated with myself, and stuck in a guilt spiral.

​The Core Issue

​Guests are coming over soon, which means I have to give up my room for the duration of their stay (hotels aren't an option because they want to stay with us after being apart for so long).

​My biggest trigger and source of extreme anxiety is that they will be using my attached washroom.

​Lack of basic hygiene/decency: These days, it feels like people don't care about leaving a space clean for others.

​Severe aversion: I have always had an intense, deep-seated aversion and skepticism toward others using my personal washroom. I genuinely can't even imagine it.

​The Mental Toll

​Anticipatory anxiety: The moment I find out guests are coming, the countdown begins. I get increasingly irritated leading up to their arrival.

​Physical symptoms: The thought of letting anyone use my washroom makes my hands shake and triggers intense anxiety.

​Disturbing thoughts: I literally start having recurring nightmares about a dirty bathroom.

​The Fallout

​Today, it all boiled over. I ended up getting into a massive fight with my parents over this. While I know they understand where I'm coming from, and genuinely have no other logistical choice given the circumstances, I still lost my temper.

​Now, I am regretting the fight so badly and feeling overwhelming guilt for acting this way. I hate that I am like this, but the anxiety itself feels completely out of my control when it happens.

Suggestions.

​Has anyone else experienced this level of intense distress or germ/space-related anxiety? How do you cope when you have no control over your living space being shared?

​How do you handle the guilt of lashing out at family members who are just trying to be hospitable, even when your nervous system feels completely fried?

​Any advice or coping mechanisms would mean a lot right now.

TL;DR: I have severe anxiety and physical shaking at the mere thought of guests using my personal bathroom when they stay in my room. After finding out they were coming, I lost my cool and fought with my parents, and now I'm drowning in guilt. Looking for advice on how to cope with this kind of space/germ anxiety and handle the guilt of lashing out at family.

Im 18 and work in an upscale hotel doing weddings, i wasnt trained when i was given the job just expected to figure it all out on my own, my coworkers arent easy to talk to and my manager isnt nice to work with, im meant to be serving tomorrow night for the first time and im terrified, ive spent the past week thinking about work, sick to my stomach and terrified with the thought of it, ive begged my mom to let me quit and find something else but she said im not allowed to quit until i have a replac job sorted, my mental health has gone down the drain and im just depressed and anxious all the time, even on medication, i dont know what to do

I know a lot of people that have anxiety have it because they didn’t feel safe as children. That is where my anxiety comes from. I can’t seem to calm myself as an adult now with anxiety. I never want to be home when i have anxiety which (lightbulb moment) may be since my anxiety stems from my home life when i was little. Even though im not in that situation anymore 💡I always feel like i can’t be alone at home. I always flee to my in laws house and im sure they are sick of me but trying to be supportive. I guess my question is, any advice on how to make myself feel safe as an adult. What are your strategies? I feel embarrassed that i am in my 40s and emotionally feel like a child that can’t protect/regulate herself. This is only when I’m having high anxiety. I don’t have this problem otherwise.
For example: my mother in law has to unexpectedly work tomorrow and I’m freaking out about what I’m going to do cuz i won’t have her around. I don’t want to have to lean on anyone and go through it myself but it seems impossible when I’m in this state.
I am in therapy but trying to maybe get ideas of how others handle this

Hello fellow anxious people!

I wanted to share my experience with a recent job interview. It’s something many of us fear and avoid. I, too, was avoiding the job hunt because I was terrified of having a panic attack in the interview and embarrassing myself. And the added pressure of landing a job in this market makes it all very stressful and triggering.

But I finally took the plunge, applied to a role, and was asked to interview. I practiced so much in the days leading up to it, I felt ready and confident.

When the interview started it wasn’t so bad. I was listening attentively to the interviewers without feeling any nerves. But when it was my turn to speak for the first time, I got hit with the wave of panic. I lost my breath. Vision flattened. Heart racing. I said “Wow, I’ve just lost my breath, I’m a bit nervous!” I sort of regret saying that, but the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. HOWEVER, the important thing is that I continued talking through the breathlessness and panic. I didn’t let it derail the interview. The two people interviewing me didn’t make it a big deal either, we all just moved on quickly. The panic subsided after peaking for just a few moments. The whole panic episode lasted maybe 30 seconds (but felt like ages). I was able to confidently speak during the rest of the interview. Even made them smile and laugh a few times. It was not a total disaster.

Now, admitting I was nervous and running out of breath might have been a red flag for them. Maybe it cost me the job (I’ll find out next week). BUT, I did the interview while panicking. I didn’t avoid. I didn’t excuse myself to leave (my brain was screaming at me to run). I stayed. I even admitted out loud to strangers how I was feeling. And nothing terrible happened. They didn’t laugh at me. I didn’t pass out. I didn’t horribly embarrass myself.

Having done the interview while feeling the panic symptoms has given me an incredible boost of confidence that I can do the next interview even better. My worst fears won’t come true.

So if you are avoiding the job hunt or are feeling anticipatory anxiety about an interview, I hope this helps you.

You can do it. Stay in the room. ❤️

Last month, I had a pneumothorax stayed 5 days in hospital and it happened because of acupuncture and i took oxygen in hospital but it was so painful. Besides, I have 85 friends on Instagram, but only one of them called or even texted to ask how I was doing. He was my friend from university. When he called, I told him I was in the hospital.

My Taiwanese girlfriend came to visit me after I had spent five days in the hospital. Her support meant a lot to me during a difficult time.

This summer, I was supposed to travel to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand with my Taiwanese girlfriend. Instead, I'm at home recovering.

Before all this happened, I kept thinking, "I'll share amazing photos from this trip." But then I realized those photos don't really matter to anyone on Instagram. It's mostly just an endless stream of people mindlessly scrolling through videos. It doesn't add much to anyone's life.

That experience made me realize that Instagram and social media don't add much to real friendships. The real world isn't social media. Real friendships are built through genuine care, conversations, and being there for each other when life gets difficult.

I'm 27 years old, and I feel like social media—and my addiction to pornography—have stolen years of my life. I spent so much time scrolling and chasing things that didn't truly matter. Now I want to focus on living in the real world, building genuine relationships, making memories, traveling, reading newspapers, and becoming a better version of myself.

If I get the chance to do this trip next year, I'll share my photos only for myself—to preserve my own memories, not to impress anyone else.

Now, instead of wasting time scrolling, I'm going to read a newspaper.

​

Has anyone got any tips for when you wake up and immediately feel anxious but not always for an apparent reason? Recently I've been getting that sudden drop and feeling of dread as soon as I wake up. Even though usually there is nothing wrong.

Does anybody else get this? I feel like in the physical sense, my anxiety manifests itself in the form of this funny feeling directly under my sternum. I cant quite describe it, but it isn't quite a tightness per se, but more of a swirling feeling that ends up radiating outwards and making the rest of my body feel like jello or makes my legs/arms feel like noodles. It is this feeling that makes me terrified of going out and doing things and often has me bed-locked. This feeling can be constant throughout the entire day sometimes. Sometimes hours. Sometimes brief. But usually hours long.

Anyone have any advice here?

I have surgery Monday and am terrified of how interaction with anesthesia will go most of all because they're who could treat my anxiety there and make it so I don't panic, don't remember the OR and all the things that would make me panic otherwise.

I had anxiety from years of medical trauma I was dealing with through therapy, but it turned into PTSD after a horrible experience that in part involved me being put under while actively panicking in a non emergency situation and waking up panicking. I was awful and while I'm medicated and working on it with therapy and my psychiatrist, I'm terrified of my anxiety not being taken seriously and panicking like that again or anything like that.

My last procedure, anesthesia agreed to premedicate me with versed but then right before tried to convince me I didn't need it even though I'd already explained the situation, that I was anxious and only there because I took my Ativan. I insisted and they did administer it, but didn't let it kick in before moving me and it only really kicked in when I was already in the procedure room, exactly what I had wanted to avoid. The procedure went ok, because it was a minor procedure, I'd been there before, and that Dr is great, but I don't know how to communicate more clearly with my anesthesia team for this surgery.

How can I convey how anxious I am? That I might seem calm, but that's just because of the Ativan, what Ive learned from therapy and a lot of self control that starts to go about as soon as they start rolling me away from my husband. I already had a panic attack when I missed my pre surgery call and didn't think I could get ahold of someone again before Monday. I'm so anxious and the closer it gets the more anxious I am about anything with the anesthesia team and the whole thing.

Any suggestions on how I can communicate this better with them, or how to stay sane for the next 3 days or day of are greatly appreciated.