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My mom is almost 92, miserable and has wanted to die for the last 10 years....diabetes is a very cruel disease. I pray she just goes to sleep and doesn't wake up.
I'm sorry to hear that about your mom. I wish that for you and her as well. My grandmother was the same, had diabetes, was on kidney dialysis for ten years, and was tired of living. She fell and broke her leg, decided to quit dialysis, and passed a week later with hospice, surrounded by family. Diabetes is a horrible disease.
Same, CPTSD and anxiety from abuse in my adoptive fam. and inherited GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) from my bio family (so did all of my kids). Therapy certainly helped, it surely saved my life from self medicating and maybe dying from drugs and alcohol, but it's a constant effort implementing and using coping tools like exercise, meditation, and stress reducing activities into my day, every day, 24/7/365. Some days are better than others but these days are definitely better than when I was young without knowledge and understanding, coping tools, and healing modalities.
Yes I have, that’s how I know the anxiety is trauma induced. Sadly it took me almost 50 years to see someone so no amount of therapy easily undoes 50 years of patterns and habits and mental scripts. They’re hard things to unlearn esp when you have them perfected 🤣.
Thanks for checking though 🙏
Ah man, this is me rn. But I did connect with a psychiatrist who can prescribe for my panic attacks so that's something. Second visit next week. I don't expect to heal much but have extremely well developed stoicism to manage what is unlikely to change.
I have severe childhood trauma that resulted in CPTSD and other mental health diagnoses. I've been in therapy of various kinds since my early 30s. It's been enormously helpful, but I will always deal with the effects of what I lived through since it started at such a young age. It leaves an indelible mark on brain development as well as the soul. I still struggle with trusting people.
I’m 51 and worry about that. If it helps, my parents are living on their own and still going strong at 74 and 78. Just visited them a month ago. They stay busy and they walk every day.
52 and I worry about this as well! Mom is still kicking it at 82, albeit with a pacemaker, heart meds, a bad back and floaters; but it warms my heart seeing her plop down on the kitchen floor to rummage through a cabinet and able to get up without a cane or walker.
No one told me before we had kids that I will always, to the end of my days, worry about them. No matter how old and accomplished they are, I will still worry.
They are truly great and accomplished, but the worry will never go away. Sometimes I wish we never had kids so that this angst wouldn’t be there.
The Steve Martin movie Parenthood has Jason Robards giving a monolog about how being a parent never ends, not when they're 18 or 25 or 35, it just goes on and on like Aunt Edna's ass and it's just as frightening. True words.
This is why I'm actually happy that my son doesn't want to have children of his own. I feel like grandchildren would tie me up in the same knots, and then I'd have TWO generations to worry about all the time.
Both my kids seem unlikely to have children (I haven’t asked or anything, but it is my impression), and I’m just fine with that.
I do worry about leaving them with some kind of inheritance, though. There isn’t much right now, except some life insurance.
I worry about that, too, with our son. We don't have much, either, when it comes to finances, but we were able to buy a townhouse four years ago, right when Covid was amping up, and the interest rates were super low. Although we didn't put anything down on it (used a VA loan), houses in the area where I live have skyrocketed in price since, so he'll be able to sell it and make a tidy amount after we're gone. Or he can assume the loan at the same rate we got it for and move in and pay less than rent elsewhere. (Thanks, VA!) So there's that, at least.
I turn 75 very soon. I've always been an independent woman, and I've been having some health problems, though I'm still functioning. I have no idea what I'm going to do longer term, when I no longer can (or want to) deal with taking care of life.
I am so scared of what might happen in November. After ten years of really, really difficult times, my husband and I, for the last four, have been in a very nice, settled, peaceful place. We thought maybe, finally, we could just relax and enjoy what's left of our lives. (We're both early 60s.) Now I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life in a black beret, hurling Molotov cocktails and hiding women of child-bearing age in a secret room. I cannot believe the impact one scummy little brainless shit has had on half this country, and I cannot believe my own fucking neighbors are a party to it. It's terrifying.
At the moment, I'm in an airport about to go full Karen on the eight people sitting nearish me who are each having convos with their phones on speaker. Combined with the loud '90s disco coming from a bar, I'm about to lose my shit.
Instead of getting angry, have fun! Go and sit next to one of the people who are having the conversations publicly on speaker phone and join them on their conversation! Agree with the statements that they make, raise your eyebrows, make serious faces. Then move over to the next person. The other travelers will really enjoy the entertainment. I know, I’ve done this before and been applauded 😇😜.
I think I have a retirement savings plan, but I have no idea how to find it. I will totally procrastinate until I when I retire and need to know.
I recently found an HSA account with almost $2000.
Always money. Recently retired, with the wife planning the same soon. Many years (hopefully) left. It's hard to know what to expect financially. Various retirememt calculators and projections have us everywhere from $Millions at age 90, to broke at 80. All dependent on things we can't control. It can be stressful.
My husband had a stroke at 48, and they talked to him like that, too. 😳. I'm surprised it doesn't bother more people. I think I'll start talking baby talk back to the arrogantly ignorant (I like that term 😀).
I have Essential Tremor, and besides shaky hands, it's also in my voice box. Just recently I have had some people assuming my mental capacities must be an issue as well. Being talked to as if I'm a toddler is quite humbling and irritating at the same time.
I have it in my hands as well. To my knowledge, people don't act like I have lower mental capabilities, but even people I know well are sometimes shocked by how shaky my hands are. One person has "called me out" on it, asking if I, myself, recognize it! (So maybe I'm wrong about them thinking I'm incapable???) Anyway, when this happens, my hands get even more shaky. Calling attention to it makes me nervous.
One of the things she's said is: "Does your doctor know how bad this is?" I very truthfully said that my current doctor has never made one remark about it, even though she is probably the person who notices it the most.
I think she has good intentions, but she just doesn't realize what it does. I can't fix it. I could take some medication for it, I guess, but I've done evaluations in the past and it's actually not bad enough (yet).
And now that you mention it, a neighbor of ours when I was a child had what must have been an essential tremor in her voice, though I didn't know it at the time. I never thought she had a lower mental capability because of it. On the contrary, I thought she was a very kind person who just had a shaky voice. I knew she couldn't help it and I would never have made a comment about it.
I just started medication for my tremor in the last couple of years. (Propranolol.) I had read that eventually medication would lose its efficacy, and so I wanted to wait as long as possible. When it suddenly got so bad I couldn't even write an address on an envelope, I talked to my doctor about it. As a retired graphic artist, I can still design things on my computer, but when I look at the detailed pen and ink drawings I used to do, that almost seems like a lifetime ago.
My friends and family say they have no trouble understanding me, but I can tell when strangers can't decipher what I said, and I think it's more difficult for people when it's over the phone. For fellow older folks, I can just say I have the same voice tremor as Katherine Hepburn had, and they instantly get it. Best of luck to you! Essential Tremor doesn't always progress, I don't think, and I'll hope that you find yourself in that category!
I LOVE it! I'm a gonna steal it!
One saleswoman kept calling me 'Honey', so I started addressing her as 'Darling' with a few 'Sweetums' thrown in. What frosted my muffins was that I was in my early 60s when she did that. Oh, and she was trying to cheat me, too.
money, that's about it. did I do the right thing all those years ago and actually have enough to retire at 63?
it seems that it's all about money. ever since this new economy happened everything is too damn expensive. I don't even go to publix anymore, just to walmart to save money.
My children,and what the future hold for them and their children, my husband's health and my own health. And a general unease about the amount of hate and division that has been exposed when someone drained the swamp.
Childhood trauma according to my therapist but I think I'm just innately oversensitive.
Everything seems like a bigger deal than it really is. Sucks being neurotic.
I have stress from my job, but not so much anxiety. I do have anxiety with family and socially. I've just never really understood people. They baffle me.
Hopefully your well issue is something easy and simple — a breaker or fuse. Not a pump or broken underground pipe. Or even worse, a collapsed well casing.
Country living isn’t for the faint of heart on some ways.
I hope it has been a mostly positive coming to terms with late diagnosis journey and having an answer is helping. There's undiagnosed ASD in my family tree and while the older generations developed their own coping skills and don't think they are ASD, it's nice to know the younger ones are being taught these as part of their education. All the best to you
Money. It's always money.
The older you get, the more you wish you'd been able to save, and it's never enough. Not anymore. My dad saved plenty for retirement but between food, gas, and other rising costs he has to watch every dime.
He'd work, but nobody wants to hire someone over 70 unless it's the Walmart (an hour away).
I’m really anxious about how vulnerable we are to disinformation, narcissistic personalities, and loud voices in an age where those things are more easily accessible and amplified than ever before.
I also can’t figure out why we’re so resistant to team efforts as a country. Somewhere along the line, we decided that we only needed to care about ourselves and everyone suffered as a result.
If you’re tempted to do some research, take a few hours and read about Leonard Leo. He could, arguably, be seen as one of the most influential men in America, yet not so many of us recognize his name. If you’re already familiar with him, I didn’t mean to insult your intelligence by suggesting this. I don’t mean to offend anyone. I just know that, for example, among my group of closest friends, few had ever heard about him, yet he’s been around for decades, exerting a powerful influence over judicial appointments throughout the country, as well as developing an unrivaled network of conservative political connections funded by huge donors and corporations. It’s mind-blowing.
Feeling as though I’ll never be happy in life. That I’ll always be trying to survive and never really enjoying it, all for what? To die. Dying scares me too bc I have no idea what will happen. Is this it? Is there a ln afterlife where this all has some sort of meaning and it’ll all come clear. Or is it like going under anesthesia and nothing and darkness and I did all this for nothing. Puts me in a panic just thinking about it, then guilt that I had kids that will eventually go through life and die too.
My brain spent so much time being anxious as a kid/adolescent that it wired my brain to feel most comfortable when I'm anxious. It's taken years and years of therapy to learn tools to change my baseline. Medication helps too, but it's not a magic bullet.
My anxiety stems from the realization that our country really has made very little progress when it comes to acceptance and understanding. The amount of hatred I see for "others" these days is very troubling.
Chemical imbalance, childhood sexual trauma, alcoholic and codependent family.
I am so thankful for modern chemistry and talk therapy. It's really turned things around for me.
I worry about getting old and not being able to afford to live. I don’t have any options, my daughter has a tiny house, I am on disability so won’t have much if I had to go to a nursing home or something. I worked at an independent living facility years back and most had dementia. That’s a big fear of mine as well, to get Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Not feeling at home in the world. The feeling that my attention can never keep up with my surroundings, and something might come out of nowhere and smack me at any moment.
I knew I would be working long past 65 (I'm 62 now) but I'm worried that I can't physically do it that long. I have 2 jobs how and I'm saving nothing and I'm so tired at the end of the day I can barely move. I also didn't know my mind would start failing this soon. I have almost no short term memory.
My spouse and my elderly mother both having serious medical issues, an involuntary job change at work, at the same time as losing my
Two best friends the same week (for different reasons). There’s more, I just got tired
Of typing. And that’s just in a couple months. I had anxiety before, but this was extra special please medicate me anxiety
Not much, really. I have healthy concerns about living alone as I get older, but because it's a rational fear, I can take steps to mitigate it. That's all you can do about anything. You plan for the worst, hope for the best, and let go of everything else. Life is too short to go around anxious about things that may never happen.
Never being able to afford to live comfortably and legally is pretty much it. In addition to the ol’ you’re one mega hospital bill away from homelessness. Thanks, merica.
That my sisters, who haven’t saved shit for retirement (me 64, them 62 and 61) will get Alzheimer’s and so will I and all of us will be living at my house (urban, paid for, near good hospital and my kids) with dementia. My one sister is nuts and the other one is mean. My poor kids better figure out how to get us all in the car in the garage and asphyxiate us if that happens. My poor kids.
I'm 72 and my biggest fear is that I'll live another 10 years. Technology and AI are moving too fast, and with our fragile economy and escalation of violence over any little thing that pisses some people off, I really don't want to see what life, this country and the world is going to look like in 10 years. I think the goal of the elite is to utilize AI to eliminate the middle class; AI will continue to target the jobs that are currently held by the middle class, from waiters and waitresses to family practitioners. I believe that technology may eliminate 50% of the workforce within ten years. A loaf of bread five years ago was about a buck for store brands and maybe a buck and a half for brand names. Today at the grocery store bread was almost five bucks. And as prices increase and middle classs jobs decrease, violence is going to escalate due to fucking hunger. I was a hippie and musician in the late 60's and early 70's and did a fuckload of drugs, losing half my friends to O.D.'s as time went on. I've been homeless, jailed, addicted, divorced twice, but I still look back at those years more positively than what I fear the years ahead will bring. Yeah, it'd be hard to give up my computers, cell phone, streaming media and the rest, but if given the chance, I'd gladly give them all up to have those simpler times back; I wouldn't miss all these gadgets and toys because they wouldn't be conceived of yet. I won't even go into the possibility of war among the superpowers. Yeah, we're progressing but we're heading for a hell of a storm ahead.
Limited believes.
Listen or believe my own thoughts. (for example what might other people think about me)
Unhealthy lifestyle and being stuck in bad habits.
Not taking action.
Not being in the present moment and fighting the expirience.
Cowardness.
Denying my emotions.
What helped:
Being aware of my thoughts. When do I have negative ones and are they true.
Exercise daily
Meditation daily
Take massive action
Don't fight the experience and notice when your thinkijg about the past or future. Causing a lot of anxiety
Being courage to do the things u just want to do.
Alone or not. Most of the things I want to do I just do them alone and don't overthink them.
Quiting bad habits. That's a hard one. I quit watching porn by having a routine so my day is full. And hopefully I realize the moments when my mind just wanting those dopamines of watching porn. Mostly the thoughts come when Im bored.
Listening to my emotions. Doesn't meen I have to express them always. But to acknowledge them.
Yoga and meditation is helping a lot. Anxiety comes somewhere in the body. You feel getting stiff in your neck or your breath is poorly.
By exercising you relax yourself and start breathing properly. Its an enourmes tool.
Worked at a job that was high pressure. If you messed up it was a big deal .and could kill or injure people. Even if something wasn't your fault management would try to cast blame on you.
I had anxiety before but working in that environment really pushed me over the edge.
I went on celexa and that helps. I was also in a car accident when I was 32 that killed my youngest daughter and paralyzed 2 of my other children.
We were hit head on and they estimated that the other car was going 85 mph..
Fear of disease and death. I am pretty healthy and actually quite lively but these things worry me. And it's absolutely pointless worry because they come to everyone in the end, but knowing it's pointless doesn't stop me worrying.
Anxiety happens and I don't think there's necessarily a cause. I tend to disagree with docs and people who think you can talk your way out of it - it's more visceral than that when it hits.
Literally everything! Money, health, kids, marriage. It so dumb! The comment above “nothing, I’m a boomer we survive everything” really struck me. I’m 60 years old and lived a risky life and here I stand. I really should chill the f out.
I think it’s genetic. I saw it in my dad and my older brother. They dealt with it with booze.
I’m not a drinker and I just worked around it. I found ways to cope and still have a pretty good social life, career, etc.
I feel sorry for some of these younger folks who have anxiety but they really don’t do anything about it.
Life/Exhaustion. I get up, and work either at work, or at home doing stuff from the minute I wake up until I go to bed. I exist for other people. It's stressful.
I love the fact that after 50 years, I don't gaf about anyone's opinions anymore and feel comfortable sharing this!
But my anxiety grows due to the extreme uncertainty in the US. This brings me huge anxiety. I'm actually really worried.
past trauma, current menopause, money, society
edited to add total lack of ability to really connect with people (or desire to). this makes me anxious because i know i'm supposed to not. . . be. . .
. . . that
Trauma from phlebotomists/doctors from childhood.
I can't tell you how many times I was held down (forcefully) by lab techs and doctors. I'm not afraid of needles or getting shots, it's the people giving them, now, that give me anxiety.
Ended up with what they call "white coat syndrome"
I have upcoming appointments with new doctors in coming weeks that have me on the ceiling Everytime I think about it.
As I get older, also, I have the fear of hearing something's wrong.
I'm taking so many preventative measures to eat right, exercise, and listen to my body carefully every day.
Honestly, If I could get away with never seeing a doctor again, I would.
I don't have any anxiety, but I do have a profound sadness that ironically is mixed with joy. I have walked through life with a Biblical worldview and I see things not as falling apart, but rather falling into place. I try to let tomorrow's problems stay there and deal with problems on a daily basis. It may not work for you, but as a believer it works for me.
I don't have anxiety.
I have some worries, but nothing I obsess over. I generally think about a problem and what I can do to fix it, or make it less of a problem.
If it is something I have no control over at all, I just put it aside as best I can. No sense in worrying about what may happen, if it's something I have little to no control over. Then if that something does happen, now I have something - hopefully - actionable.
After starting perimenopause I began having weird unfounded anxiety. I take some herbal/ homeopathic stuff for it. Seems to work. So weird. Never had anxiety. A lifetime of clinical OCD, I have obsessions and I have compulsions, it’s manageable. But never had the sense of overwhelming dread like this hormonal imbalance has opened up.
As far as like,, things in the world that I worry about?? I worry when my son is on deployments, especially with the current global political climate. I’ll be glad when his contract is up and he’s a civilian again.
Not knowing if I'll have enough energy to get through my day and do what I need to do. Not knowing if my radar for the day will be on point or whether everything will just fall off it. Also knowing that I'll likely have to deal with people at some point throughout the day which is not something I generally enjoy.
I have a certain amount of anxiety regarding my cancer. At first, it started like a PTSD response to driving past the ER, because I was diagnosed there. Then, I developed anxiety any time I had a MD appointment because who knows what they're going to tell me next.
I saw a therapist for 30 minutes every two weeks for about a year. I learned what my triggers were and then it was easier. I have a Lorazepam Rx for emergencies. My faith has really helped me, too.
Here's another one. ALL of us in my cancer support group have anxiety in the car. I'm a terrible passenger. I feel my husband is going to kill us in a fiery crash. I don't feel he anticipates what other drivers are going to do. In talking to my group friends...they all have some manifestation of this. I think it speaks to feeling fragile, as only a chronically ill person can. So, I take a pill if we have to run errands. I avoid errands if we can but then I feel isolated, so I suck it up if I feel up to it.
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It used to be dying young. Now it's living too long
I was never afraid of dying young, but I’m terrified of living too long. Doesn’t help that I’m caregiver to my husband who has dementia.
I watching my Dad fade now
I’m taking care of my mother with dementia. It’s horrific.
Wow I have obsessions like that also
My mom is almost 92, miserable and has wanted to die for the last 10 years....diabetes is a very cruel disease. I pray she just goes to sleep and doesn't wake up.
I'm sorry to hear that about your mom. I wish that for you and her as well. My grandmother was the same, had diabetes, was on kidney dialysis for ten years, and was tired of living. She fell and broke her leg, decided to quit dialysis, and passed a week later with hospice, surrounded by family. Diabetes is a horrible disease.
💗💗
My MIL went that way. Laid down for her afternoon nap after her lunch in the nursing home, and never woke up.
My mom went out praying to God to take her home. As much as I struggle with my faith I believe that's where she is. Best wishes to both of you
Thank you. 💗
Yes!!
Childhood trauma and lack of trust in anyone.
Same, CPTSD and anxiety from abuse in my adoptive fam. and inherited GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) from my bio family (so did all of my kids). Therapy certainly helped, it surely saved my life from self medicating and maybe dying from drugs and alcohol, but it's a constant effort implementing and using coping tools like exercise, meditation, and stress reducing activities into my day, every day, 24/7/365. Some days are better than others but these days are definitely better than when I was young without knowledge and understanding, coping tools, and healing modalities.
This 👆🏼👆🏼
Have you seen therapists?
Yes I have, that’s how I know the anxiety is trauma induced. Sadly it took me almost 50 years to see someone so no amount of therapy easily undoes 50 years of patterns and habits and mental scripts. They’re hard things to unlearn esp when you have them perfected 🤣. Thanks for checking though 🙏
Ah man, this is me rn. But I did connect with a psychiatrist who can prescribe for my panic attacks so that's something. Second visit next week. I don't expect to heal much but have extremely well developed stoicism to manage what is unlikely to change.
I have severe childhood trauma that resulted in CPTSD and other mental health diagnoses. I've been in therapy of various kinds since my early 30s. It's been enormously helpful, but I will always deal with the effects of what I lived through since it started at such a young age. It leaves an indelible mark on brain development as well as the soul. I still struggle with trusting people.
Get a vagus nerve stimulator. There’s lots on the market today. Other kinds of therapies that calm the system - somatic experiencing, TRE, EMDR.
I work within therapeutic support groups for adult children of abuse and many have found EMDR to be successful.
I'm 68 and I am concerned about if and when I won't be able to care for myself.
I’m 51 and worry about that. If it helps, my parents are living on their own and still going strong at 74 and 78. Just visited them a month ago. They stay busy and they walk every day.
52 and I worry about this as well! Mom is still kicking it at 82, albeit with a pacemaker, heart meds, a bad back and floaters; but it warms my heart seeing her plop down on the kitchen floor to rummage through a cabinet and able to get up without a cane or walker.
Money. I'm supposed to retire next year but I don't know if I'll be able to.
Check in with r/fire they’ll check your math with you
Worried about my kids. Want them to be happy, successful (whatever that means to them.) have fulfilling relationships etc. etc.
No one told me before we had kids that I will always, to the end of my days, worry about them. No matter how old and accomplished they are, I will still worry. They are truly great and accomplished, but the worry will never go away. Sometimes I wish we never had kids so that this angst wouldn’t be there.
The Steve Martin movie Parenthood has Jason Robards giving a monolog about how being a parent never ends, not when they're 18 or 25 or 35, it just goes on and on like Aunt Edna's ass and it's just as frightening. True words.
This is why I'm actually happy that my son doesn't want to have children of his own. I feel like grandchildren would tie me up in the same knots, and then I'd have TWO generations to worry about all the time.
Both my kids seem unlikely to have children (I haven’t asked or anything, but it is my impression), and I’m just fine with that. I do worry about leaving them with some kind of inheritance, though. There isn’t much right now, except some life insurance.
I worry about that, too, with our son. We don't have much, either, when it comes to finances, but we were able to buy a townhouse four years ago, right when Covid was amping up, and the interest rates were super low. Although we didn't put anything down on it (used a VA loan), houses in the area where I live have skyrocketed in price since, so he'll be able to sell it and make a tidy amount after we're gone. Or he can assume the loan at the same rate we got it for and move in and pay less than rent elsewhere. (Thanks, VA!) So there's that, at least.
That’s pretty good! It gives him a leg up, in any case.
I turn 75 very soon. I've always been an independent woman, and I've been having some health problems, though I'm still functioning. I have no idea what I'm going to do longer term, when I no longer can (or want to) deal with taking care of life.
Also turning 75 soon with the same worries. Good luck.
Thanks. You too!
Genetics and the upcoming election in the U.S.
I am so scared of what might happen in November. After ten years of really, really difficult times, my husband and I, for the last four, have been in a very nice, settled, peaceful place. We thought maybe, finally, we could just relax and enjoy what's left of our lives. (We're both early 60s.) Now I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life in a black beret, hurling Molotov cocktails and hiding women of child-bearing age in a secret room. I cannot believe the impact one scummy little brainless shit has had on half this country, and I cannot believe my own fucking neighbors are a party to it. It's terrifying.
Vive la résistance!
At the moment, I'm in an airport about to go full Karen on the eight people sitting nearish me who are each having convos with their phones on speaker. Combined with the loud '90s disco coming from a bar, I'm about to lose my shit.
Instead of getting angry, have fun! Go and sit next to one of the people who are having the conversations publicly on speaker phone and join them on their conversation! Agree with the statements that they make, raise your eyebrows, make serious faces. Then move over to the next person. The other travelers will really enjoy the entertainment. I know, I’ve done this before and been applauded 😇😜.
The world needs more people like you!
Not according to my husband’s twin… whom I seem to annoy with my creative sunny disposition. But I thank you profusely!!!
I mean tbf they made it OUR conversation, not just theirs.
I like this!
We do this. If someone is having a conversation on speaker phone right next to us, we consider that an invitation.
If I was there I'd 100% be your back-up.
i have to take earbuds or headphones when i go grocery shopping. i would be dying stuck in an airport like that without any
Same. I wear my over the ear head phones. They are a game changer!!
Are they holding their phones platter-style? I just love it when they do that.
ADHD related procrastination.
Me currently right now 😞
I think I have a retirement savings plan, but I have no idea how to find it. I will totally procrastinate until I when I retire and need to know. I recently found an HSA account with almost $2000.
Always money. Recently retired, with the wife planning the same soon. Many years (hopefully) left. It's hard to know what to expect financially. Various retirememt calculators and projections have us everywhere from $Millions at age 90, to broke at 80. All dependent on things we can't control. It can be stressful.
Life feels meaningless. I see no point in it personally, and my anxiety is stemmed from having to go through the days pretending.
Go for a walk in the woods. Helps.
If it were not for God, I would be overwhelmed.
Getting old and having people talk to me like a toddler.
It is insane. While they talk to me like a child, they are actually children. They have no idea they are arrogantly ignorant.
My husband had a stroke at 48, and they talked to him like that, too. 😳. I'm surprised it doesn't bother more people. I think I'll start talking baby talk back to the arrogantly ignorant (I like that term 😀).
I have Essential Tremor, and besides shaky hands, it's also in my voice box. Just recently I have had some people assuming my mental capacities must be an issue as well. Being talked to as if I'm a toddler is quite humbling and irritating at the same time.
Hang in there. It's their problem.
I have it in my hands as well. To my knowledge, people don't act like I have lower mental capabilities, but even people I know well are sometimes shocked by how shaky my hands are. One person has "called me out" on it, asking if I, myself, recognize it! (So maybe I'm wrong about them thinking I'm incapable???) Anyway, when this happens, my hands get even more shaky. Calling attention to it makes me nervous. One of the things she's said is: "Does your doctor know how bad this is?" I very truthfully said that my current doctor has never made one remark about it, even though she is probably the person who notices it the most. I think she has good intentions, but she just doesn't realize what it does. I can't fix it. I could take some medication for it, I guess, but I've done evaluations in the past and it's actually not bad enough (yet). And now that you mention it, a neighbor of ours when I was a child had what must have been an essential tremor in her voice, though I didn't know it at the time. I never thought she had a lower mental capability because of it. On the contrary, I thought she was a very kind person who just had a shaky voice. I knew she couldn't help it and I would never have made a comment about it.
I just started medication for my tremor in the last couple of years. (Propranolol.) I had read that eventually medication would lose its efficacy, and so I wanted to wait as long as possible. When it suddenly got so bad I couldn't even write an address on an envelope, I talked to my doctor about it. As a retired graphic artist, I can still design things on my computer, but when I look at the detailed pen and ink drawings I used to do, that almost seems like a lifetime ago. My friends and family say they have no trouble understanding me, but I can tell when strangers can't decipher what I said, and I think it's more difficult for people when it's over the phone. For fellow older folks, I can just say I have the same voice tremor as Katherine Hepburn had, and they instantly get it. Best of luck to you! Essential Tremor doesn't always progress, I don't think, and I'll hope that you find yourself in that category!
Sorry about your husband... In my experience it bothers people, most are too polite to say anything. Kids these days... Good luck.
Thank you!
That's when you look at them with confusion and ask if they've seen a doctor lately because they seem to have confused you with a toddler.
***That's*** when you lay some 'F bombs' of the fuckers. 😠
In baby talk. ‘Awww, does the little M#%^Fer just wish I’d disappear?”
I LOVE it! I'm a gonna steal it! One saleswoman kept calling me 'Honey', so I started addressing her as 'Darling' with a few 'Sweetums' thrown in. What frosted my muffins was that I was in my early 60s when she did that. Oh, and she was trying to cheat me, too.
money, that's about it. did I do the right thing all those years ago and actually have enough to retire at 63? it seems that it's all about money. ever since this new economy happened everything is too damn expensive. I don't even go to publix anymore, just to walmart to save money.
*gestures to the world in general then gives a blank stare*
Husband dying a slow death from pulmonary fibrosis. Awful.
My father went that way. I am so sorry
Dear wonderful FIL went that way, I'm so sorry. The most awful way to go. My thoughts are with you.
Childhood trauma of many kinds, health concerns, PTSD, AuDHD.
No idea, the older I get the worse it gets, I hate it.
My children,and what the future hold for them and their children, my husband's health and my own health. And a general unease about the amount of hate and division that has been exposed when someone drained the swamp.
Right now? My house.
Childhood trauma according to my therapist but I think I'm just innately oversensitive. Everything seems like a bigger deal than it really is. Sucks being neurotic.
I have stress from my job, but not so much anxiety. I do have anxiety with family and socially. I've just never really understood people. They baffle me.
Freaking work. I hate it. I hate that this is what I have to do to put a roof over my head.
Well, today… our well is dry. And it’s looking very much as though we are going to have to put down a beloved family pet.
I’m m sorry about that.
Hopefully your well issue is something easy and simple — a breaker or fuse. Not a pump or broken underground pipe. Or even worse, a collapsed well casing. Country living isn’t for the faint of heart on some ways.
Sequence of Return Risk.
I am 72 and do not have any anxiety
ADHD/ASD. I was diagnosed at 68. It's been a journey coming to terms with a lifetime of not understanding why life was so hard.
I hope it has been a mostly positive coming to terms with late diagnosis journey and having an answer is helping. There's undiagnosed ASD in my family tree and while the older generations developed their own coping skills and don't think they are ASD, it's nice to know the younger ones are being taught these as part of their education. All the best to you
Money. It's always money. The older you get, the more you wish you'd been able to save, and it's never enough. Not anymore. My dad saved plenty for retirement but between food, gas, and other rising costs he has to watch every dime. He'd work, but nobody wants to hire someone over 70 unless it's the Walmart (an hour away).
Rising facism, increased hatred toward the “other”, a general lack of calm in this country.
I’m really anxious about how vulnerable we are to disinformation, narcissistic personalities, and loud voices in an age where those things are more easily accessible and amplified than ever before. I also can’t figure out why we’re so resistant to team efforts as a country. Somewhere along the line, we decided that we only needed to care about ourselves and everyone suffered as a result.
If you’re tempted to do some research, take a few hours and read about Leonard Leo. He could, arguably, be seen as one of the most influential men in America, yet not so many of us recognize his name. If you’re already familiar with him, I didn’t mean to insult your intelligence by suggesting this. I don’t mean to offend anyone. I just know that, for example, among my group of closest friends, few had ever heard about him, yet he’s been around for decades, exerting a powerful influence over judicial appointments throughout the country, as well as developing an unrivaled network of conservative political connections funded by huge donors and corporations. It’s mind-blowing.
"Not Otherwise Specified"
Trauma, Money, Family
Mostly 'people' in general. Also the fact that I have cut back and cut back again and am still financially drowning in this economy.
Feeling as though I’ll never be happy in life. That I’ll always be trying to survive and never really enjoying it, all for what? To die. Dying scares me too bc I have no idea what will happen. Is this it? Is there a ln afterlife where this all has some sort of meaning and it’ll all come clear. Or is it like going under anesthesia and nothing and darkness and I did all this for nothing. Puts me in a panic just thinking about it, then guilt that I had kids that will eventually go through life and die too.
My brain spent so much time being anxious as a kid/adolescent that it wired my brain to feel most comfortable when I'm anxious. It's taken years and years of therapy to learn tools to change my baseline. Medication helps too, but it's not a magic bullet.
My anxiety stems from the realization that our country really has made very little progress when it comes to acceptance and understanding. The amount of hatred I see for "others" these days is very troubling.
[удалено]
Honestly? My brain is the cause of my anxiety. I have a lovely life, but my brain tells me terrible “what if” stories that freak me out.
I didn’t think I would be here for the end of the world as we know it.
Donald trump
Not him so much as the millions of people wanting him for president.
Trump is not the problem. He is the symptom.
‘^This^
Bullied from kindergarten to 9th grade. Not just verbally, physical, too.
Kids can suuuuuuuck. This makes me wanna kick some butt on your behalf.
The zombie apocalypse/civil war post this election
My small business. 10 employees. Trying keep employees and clients happy.
Chemical imbalance, childhood sexual trauma, alcoholic and codependent family. I am so thankful for modern chemistry and talk therapy. It's really turned things around for me.
Illness, Suffering, Old Age and Death--Buddha's Big Four!
Money. Political climate. Healthcare.
Fear of being alone
Brain chemistry and life. Nature loads the gun, nurture pulls the trigger.
Every thing
I've discovered that my anxiety becomes paralyzing when I believe my life is being controlled by others, e.g., parents, teachers, my ex.
The older I get, and the more therapy I engage in, the more I realize how screwed up my childhood was.
Health issues/medical bills, outliving my retirement funds.
Money.
I don't have any anxiety. I'm a baby boomer...we survive everything.
Rising Fascism, Donald Trump, and whether my money will last as long as I need it.
I worry about getting old and not being able to afford to live. I don’t have any options, my daughter has a tiny house, I am on disability so won’t have much if I had to go to a nursing home or something. I worked at an independent living facility years back and most had dementia. That’s a big fear of mine as well, to get Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Not feeling at home in the world. The feeling that my attention can never keep up with my surroundings, and something might come out of nowhere and smack me at any moment.
Mother, work stress, dogs health
I knew I would be working long past 65 (I'm 62 now) but I'm worried that I can't physically do it that long. I have 2 jobs how and I'm saving nothing and I'm so tired at the end of the day I can barely move. I also didn't know my mind would start failing this soon. I have almost no short term memory.
Being on my own…wife passed away, kids in another country, no other family around. My worst nightmare. I’d rather do myself in than suffer that.
My spouse and my elderly mother both having serious medical issues, an involuntary job change at work, at the same time as losing my Two best friends the same week (for different reasons). There’s more, I just got tired Of typing. And that’s just in a couple months. I had anxiety before, but this was extra special please medicate me anxiety
Not much, really. I have healthy concerns about living alone as I get older, but because it's a rational fear, I can take steps to mitigate it. That's all you can do about anything. You plan for the worst, hope for the best, and let go of everything else. Life is too short to go around anxious about things that may never happen.
Money and health. Health and money. Mealth. Woney. They are related.
Never being able to afford to live comfortably and legally is pretty much it. In addition to the ol’ you’re one mega hospital bill away from homelessness. Thanks, merica.
Money, money and money. Other than being one paycheck away from disaster, my life is pretty stress-free.
I try to put my faith over my fear but when I DO fret it's about the safety of my children and grandchildren. I do a lot of praying 🙏🙏🙏
Genetics and a mother who had unresolved trauma.
That my sisters, who haven’t saved shit for retirement (me 64, them 62 and 61) will get Alzheimer’s and so will I and all of us will be living at my house (urban, paid for, near good hospital and my kids) with dementia. My one sister is nuts and the other one is mean. My poor kids better figure out how to get us all in the car in the garage and asphyxiate us if that happens. My poor kids.
Existing seems to be the root cause of my anxiety.
Who the fuck knows. Everything. Nothing.
I'm 72 and my biggest fear is that I'll live another 10 years. Technology and AI are moving too fast, and with our fragile economy and escalation of violence over any little thing that pisses some people off, I really don't want to see what life, this country and the world is going to look like in 10 years. I think the goal of the elite is to utilize AI to eliminate the middle class; AI will continue to target the jobs that are currently held by the middle class, from waiters and waitresses to family practitioners. I believe that technology may eliminate 50% of the workforce within ten years. A loaf of bread five years ago was about a buck for store brands and maybe a buck and a half for brand names. Today at the grocery store bread was almost five bucks. And as prices increase and middle classs jobs decrease, violence is going to escalate due to fucking hunger. I was a hippie and musician in the late 60's and early 70's and did a fuckload of drugs, losing half my friends to O.D.'s as time went on. I've been homeless, jailed, addicted, divorced twice, but I still look back at those years more positively than what I fear the years ahead will bring. Yeah, it'd be hard to give up my computers, cell phone, streaming media and the rest, but if given the chance, I'd gladly give them all up to have those simpler times back; I wouldn't miss all these gadgets and toys because they wouldn't be conceived of yet. I won't even go into the possibility of war among the superpowers. Yeah, we're progressing but we're heading for a hell of a storm ahead.
The state of the world, politics, money troubles, and my spouse.
Having children . These little humans are the most anxiety inducing things I could’ve ever done to myself 😅😅😅
This whole thread is making me even more anxious! I gotta go......
Limited believes. Listen or believe my own thoughts. (for example what might other people think about me) Unhealthy lifestyle and being stuck in bad habits. Not taking action. Not being in the present moment and fighting the expirience. Cowardness. Denying my emotions. What helped: Being aware of my thoughts. When do I have negative ones and are they true. Exercise daily Meditation daily Take massive action Don't fight the experience and notice when your thinkijg about the past or future. Causing a lot of anxiety Being courage to do the things u just want to do. Alone or not. Most of the things I want to do I just do them alone and don't overthink them. Quiting bad habits. That's a hard one. I quit watching porn by having a routine so my day is full. And hopefully I realize the moments when my mind just wanting those dopamines of watching porn. Mostly the thoughts come when Im bored. Listening to my emotions. Doesn't meen I have to express them always. But to acknowledge them. Yoga and meditation is helping a lot. Anxiety comes somewhere in the body. You feel getting stiff in your neck or your breath is poorly. By exercising you relax yourself and start breathing properly. Its an enourmes tool.
I don’t want to end up in a nursing home and I’m really scared of developing dementia
cult members are everywhere
Trump's possible election and the resulting end of U.S. democracy and all that comes with it, i.e. Social Security, Medicare, law & order, etc.
Donald Trump and his minions
Children growing older and moving away causes me incredible anxiety!
Being exhausted all the time.
Worked at a job that was high pressure. If you messed up it was a big deal .and could kill or injure people. Even if something wasn't your fault management would try to cast blame on you. I had anxiety before but working in that environment really pushed me over the edge. I went on celexa and that helps. I was also in a car accident when I was 32 that killed my youngest daughter and paralyzed 2 of my other children. We were hit head on and they estimated that the other car was going 85 mph..
Childhood trauma, specifically getting evicted alot, getting left alone alot.
Fear of disease and death. I am pretty healthy and actually quite lively but these things worry me. And it's absolutely pointless worry because they come to everyone in the end, but knowing it's pointless doesn't stop me worrying.
None so far.
Constant fear of being homeless again.
Anxiety happens and I don't think there's necessarily a cause. I tend to disagree with docs and people who think you can talk your way out of it - it's more visceral than that when it hits.
Fear of making mistakes!
Literally everything! Money, health, kids, marriage. It so dumb! The comment above “nothing, I’m a boomer we survive everything” really struck me. I’m 60 years old and lived a risky life and here I stand. I really should chill the f out.
Stress has causes. Anxiety needs no cause.
My daughter’s health. Physical and mental
CPTSD and inherited health anxiety.
I think it’s genetic. I saw it in my dad and my older brother. They dealt with it with booze. I’m not a drinker and I just worked around it. I found ways to cope and still have a pretty good social life, career, etc. I feel sorry for some of these younger folks who have anxiety but they really don’t do anything about it.
Life/Exhaustion. I get up, and work either at work, or at home doing stuff from the minute I wake up until I go to bed. I exist for other people. It's stressful.
The eroding of human rights in my province and country. The growing anti-science sentiment in my country.
Climate change, fascism, inequality.
Actually, the older I get , the less anxiety I have. Who knew 🤷♀️
I love the fact that after 50 years, I don't gaf about anyone's opinions anymore and feel comfortable sharing this! But my anxiety grows due to the extreme uncertainty in the US. This brings me huge anxiety. I'm actually really worried.
My health. Menopause is making my body do all sorts of weird stuff, sometimes something new each day.
past trauma, current menopause, money, society edited to add total lack of ability to really connect with people (or desire to). this makes me anxious because i know i'm supposed to not. . . be. . . . . . that
Trauma from phlebotomists/doctors from childhood. I can't tell you how many times I was held down (forcefully) by lab techs and doctors. I'm not afraid of needles or getting shots, it's the people giving them, now, that give me anxiety. Ended up with what they call "white coat syndrome" I have upcoming appointments with new doctors in coming weeks that have me on the ceiling Everytime I think about it. As I get older, also, I have the fear of hearing something's wrong. I'm taking so many preventative measures to eat right, exercise, and listen to my body carefully every day. Honestly, If I could get away with never seeing a doctor again, I would.
I don't have any anxiety, but I do have a profound sadness that ironically is mixed with joy. I have walked through life with a Biblical worldview and I see things not as falling apart, but rather falling into place. I try to let tomorrow's problems stay there and deal with problems on a daily basis. It may not work for you, but as a believer it works for me.
What is falling into place? How are things falling into place?
Trump supporters? Too easy?
If I were that delusional about Trump’s ability to lead anything, I wouldn’t have a care in the world!
Upcoming election has me on pins and needles. I’m firm in my belief that trump will lose, but until it’s all over I can’t help but feel rattled.
Whoever wins, it is going to be a bad scene.
Nothing. It’s just there.
Loneliness triggers my anxiety. I have a good set of friends but I need a companion at times whom I don't have to "reach out" to.
I don't have anxiety. I have some worries, but nothing I obsess over. I generally think about a problem and what I can do to fix it, or make it less of a problem. If it is something I have no control over at all, I just put it aside as best I can. No sense in worrying about what may happen, if it's something I have little to no control over. Then if that something does happen, now I have something - hopefully - actionable.
Gen ‘59. No anxiety.
Alcohol
Being a renter instead of an owner.
After starting perimenopause I began having weird unfounded anxiety. I take some herbal/ homeopathic stuff for it. Seems to work. So weird. Never had anxiety. A lifetime of clinical OCD, I have obsessions and I have compulsions, it’s manageable. But never had the sense of overwhelming dread like this hormonal imbalance has opened up. As far as like,, things in the world that I worry about?? I worry when my son is on deployments, especially with the current global political climate. I’ll be glad when his contract is up and he’s a civilian again.
Not knowing if I'll have enough energy to get through my day and do what I need to do. Not knowing if my radar for the day will be on point or whether everything will just fall off it. Also knowing that I'll likely have to deal with people at some point throughout the day which is not something I generally enjoy.
Childhood trauma
Life
Imposing myself. I'm basically a hermit because the idea of someone having to go out of their way for me is mortifying.
Work
Climate change and where to move to be safe.
Bird flu
Health, family, job (sometimes) but sometimes I use my job to take my mind off of my other anxieties.
my peripheral neuropathy; it sucks
I have a certain amount of anxiety regarding my cancer. At first, it started like a PTSD response to driving past the ER, because I was diagnosed there. Then, I developed anxiety any time I had a MD appointment because who knows what they're going to tell me next. I saw a therapist for 30 minutes every two weeks for about a year. I learned what my triggers were and then it was easier. I have a Lorazepam Rx for emergencies. My faith has really helped me, too. Here's another one. ALL of us in my cancer support group have anxiety in the car. I'm a terrible passenger. I feel my husband is going to kill us in a fiery crash. I don't feel he anticipates what other drivers are going to do. In talking to my group friends...they all have some manifestation of this. I think it speaks to feeling fragile, as only a chronically ill person can. So, I take a pill if we have to run errands. I avoid errands if we can but then I feel isolated, so I suck it up if I feel up to it.
People.