Laundry Makes Me Panic

[zeropoint]

Suddenly, the thought of doing laundry sends me into a full-blown panic. My adrenaline is so high that I just want to run away to safety. I feel sick to my stomach. I feel like I'd readily resort to violence if somebody tried to make me do laundry. This is new for me.

I had a freakout over this the other day and it's starting back today. My clothes are filthy enough that they smell weird, so I really do need to do this. But even taking steps towards it, like getting out the laundry bag, bring up that feeling of violent opposition.


I have no idea what this is about, since I don't have any associations with laundry.

Has anybody experienced this before? Do you know what it was really about for you?

What helped you work through it? I'd been thinking of talking to someone on the phone while I got started, but I think my panic has crossed the point of no return for now.

 

[illusionist]

For me, washing clothes has, in the past, been a specific problem...could see where it came from in my past.....fear. I started doing my laundry every day so as not to have the panic of getting through a mound of clothes..it helped a lot. If I leave it, the old panic sets in, and find it hard to face it. It brings back the emotions of those days.
I don't know your age, but is it possible you come from an era where washing clothes was a weekly chore that took half the day to get through....possibly stress passed onto you? Where you knew to stay out of the way?

 

[Smile]

@richter scale i love that idea!!! I as well have a major idea with doing laundry & doing it in a daily basis makes it seem so much more manageable!! Thanks :)

 

[illusionist]

I'm so glad it helps smile....turns a major thing into something almost minute!....just stick a wash on before bedtime.

 

[holdenmonty]

I don't have anxiety when it comes to doing laundry because I just throw it all in as long as colors and whites aren't mixed it's usually the folding that I have a hard time with because it's just a big pile of cloths to be folded. But to get around it I sort out my shirts, pants, socks and underwear, and then my wife's the same way and our boys, the same way and then I can fold them. Also for me if the sink is full of dirty dishes I feel panic but I have to sort them into big plates, small plates, bowls, glasses, silverware, like that before I can wash any dirty dishes.