Do You Find Anxiety And Impatience Related?

[RussH]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have noticed over the past several years that, when I have somewhere I have to be, or a task I need to complete, if someone or something gets in my way, or delays my completely the task I get impatient too get there, or finish the task.

I have recently realized that the impatience is really my feeling anxiety. I think it is related to my fear of failure; if I don't arrive on time, or complete the task, then I will be seen as a failure.

Does anyone else deal with this?

 

[nay.elizabeth]

I am the same. When I have a set idea in my head on when I will be somewhere, or how something will get done, or how I will do a task, and someone interferes, I get angry. I need the control and when I don't have it, I instantly panic. I lash out (not violently).

For me, it is about control; of my surroundings, of my thoughts, of anything that refers to me. If I lose that control, it sets me off into a bad place in my head and can take hours to days to recover.

 

[Kintsugi]

I recognize this phenomenon in myself, but I have always understood it to be anxiety, not impatience. I tend to get really anxious before I have to be somewhere, which is why I prefer to work very early in the morning (which I do not do now; I work evenings), because otherwise every day I work is colored by anxiety that gets worse and worse until I arrive at work.

One serious downside to this anxiety is that I'm either early or late. I'm rarely right on time for things. I either give in to my anxiety too early, causing me to be as early as a half-hour to work or other commitments, or I distract myself as deeply as possible until the last possible moment, causing me to regularly be a few minutes late.

I'm nearly impossible to interact with in the hour leading up to a deadline. I get very easily annoyed by anyone attempting to communicate with me or show me something. It's something that was easy to deal with in my last relationship because my partner suffered the same issue.

 

[The Albatross]

I don't want to get there or finish the task, no. I do have anticipatory stress or anxiety but not the "hurry up and get it over with" kind, it's more the "I don't want to/avoidant" kind.

 

[scout86]

I have recently realized that the impatience is really my feeling anxiety.

What an interesting idea! I always thought of it as "impatience" but I tend not to recognize "anxiety". Now that you mention it, I can see the connection! How did you figure this out?

 

[RussH]

Now that you mention it, I can see the connection! How did you figure this out?

I guess I would keep asking myself why am I being so impatient, then started breaking down how that impatience feeling mirrored my anxiety feeling, so I realized that the feelings were anxiety and were more because of my PTSD and internal fears, than actually being impatient.