• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

Slowing down

Status
Not open for further replies.

katz

MyPTSD Pro
Can anyone help me to understand why I can't slow down? I can't just stop. If I finish what I am doing, I go looking for the next thing to do. And the next. And the next. It feels like I have no control., and it often brings me to tears (and yet, I keep going). is there a particular thing that causes this? I have often described it as pushing the accelerator on a car, pushing it to the floor and not being able to get it to stop or even slow down.

I have noticed this problem over the years, but it seems to be getting worse as I grow older.
Will it always be this way? Do things like this continue thru life? Forever.
Help.
 
When I keep jumping from task to task usually it means that I'm avoiding my thoughts and feelings. I'm trying to keep myself so busy that no thoughts or feelings can catch up with me and make me upset. For me, it doesn't get better until I force myself to stop and ask myself "what are you running from?" It sucks, but I won't be able to slow down and feel better until I stop running from the thoughts and feelings and actually think/feel them. I've found some helpful ideas for dealing with this in the avoidance section of the forum
 
in my own case, i call this, "busying out" and treat it like avoidance and/or deflection. it is a coping mechanism rooted in my deepest personal habits and as resistant to microwave solutions as problems get. every time i think i have it licked, it sneaks back in like roaches in the floor boards.

i treat it with mindfulness. there is a fine and fuzzy line between busying out and being productive. i like being productive, so when i find my productivity has escalated into busying out, i **just** allow myself to build my awareness and gently allow myself to acknowledge and process whatever it is i am avoiding. as my awareness grows, so does my awareness of where the healing mysteries are attempting to lead me.

did i say, "just?" ? ? allowing myself to build that awareness is simple but requires enough tedious persistence that there is nothing justy about it.
 
When l was a mother, staying busy helped thru the abuse l was going thru. Now l am going backwards and doing less because l am just feeling overwhelmed.
Bipolar also can contribute to unlimited energy, but eventually people crash and burn. The manic state is when my ex would do everything. When he crashed, he would be laying on the floor.
 
I read a quote somewhere along the lines of "If staying on high alert and having to pay attention to survive, or having to do things a certain way in a certain time frame helped you stay alive, it makes sense you're stuck there - it helped you survive."

For me this means I have to force myself to do nothing and consciously think, consider, feel, notice safety levels while doing nothing. It helps me be less panicked, less frantic, less focused on doing everything as fast and frantic as possible.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top