Other How to deal with excess stress

[elizabeep]

I've been struggling a lot lately with stress. I don't even have a lot of things I need to do, and I got a lot done today, but it feels like it's never enough. It's hard to relax, to watch a movie or play a game without feeling guilt and an immense weight on my shoulders. I'm pretty certain this is because it was drilled into me as a kid, being taught that I never do enough no matter how much I try.

I've tried meditation and distracting myself, even weed doesn't help that much. It feels like I just have to keep cleaning random things until I'm physically exhausted. I feel a panic building up if I try to fight it and relax.

Does anyone have any tips on how to cope with this kind of stress?

 

[Friday]

- Physically?
1. Exercise. To blow off accumulated stress, as well as to keep baselines with room to spare.
2. Sleep. Eat. Move. Take care of your body. (Distraction is not in this category)

- Mentally? Learn something. Like a new language, or how to rebuild engines, or pursue a degree.

- Emotionally? Is too personal to begin to list out examples.

- Socially? Interactions at various levels of connectedness.

Right now the ONLY stress management you’ve listed is (essentially, distraction. Which IS a valid tool!) by way of the oblivion of blind cleaning & chemical smack down

Add more into your life. You’re lopsided. So of course you’re crashing. Been there. Done that. Seek more balance, as much of a pain in the ass as it is, the results are delicious.

The ptsd cup explanation

Nearly a decade ago (2006) I wrote The PTSD Cup Explanation, a simple view of how PTSD causes symptoms in day-to-day life. This article is an update to that original piece. Regardless of the type of trauma endured, the PTSD Cup does not change, deviate or apply differently to your circumstance...

www.myptsd.com

 

[Midnightmoon]

It feels like I just have to keep cleaning random things until I'm physically exhausted. I feel a panic building up if I try to fight it and relax.

I could have wrote this myself, it's my number one strategy too (I use it for flashback grounding) , because, yeah exactly the same as you if I stop I panic...

I am very much down the hole with it at the min so can't offer the way out, but just wanted you to know that yep, it's perfectly 'normal'

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Sometimes all I can do is stare at the ceiling waiting for the clock to move. I use exercise, distraction, talking to my few friends, reading, etc. when they all fail it is stare at the ceiling and wait as time crawls.

 

[arfie]

I'm pretty certain this is because it was drilled into me as a kid, being taught that I never do enough no matter how much I try.

this is where i put my focus in my personal coping with this very stress source. as long as i believe that slice of my childhood conditioning that, it will be so. positive affirmations and self-love reduces my stress levels far more than freshly scrubbed ceilings or toothbush scrubbed tile grout.

 

[Movingforward10]

For me: re-assessing what I can do that day. And that may be re-assessing several times a day.
Bring down the tasks to complete. To help just do what I can and make that enough.

Then it's positive internal messages.
If I am aware I'm getting stuck in a chain of thought: make myself aware of that and give myself different , calmer, thoughts.

It's a lot of work.
And when very stressed, it feels relentless.
But, being aware is such a big step.

And feelings do pass.