Reassesing your life

bhn

bhn

Member
Did anyone else look back and saw their lives through a different lens after learning (through this site and others) about SA?

The mind is always trying to rationalize whatever we do and the things that happen to us. However, after reading about other people's experiences, I now see my life as one big, messy misunderstanding.

I also keep falling into the "what if" trap, going back down the memory lane, changing a little detail in a remembered situation, and wondering how could that have impacted my life as a whole (a butterfly effect kind of thing).
 
Hellhound

Hellhound

Super Moderator
Before learning about my problems, I always thought I was a big failure... or maybe I was going crazy. The negative part of me keeps saying that, but at least I have now a more positive part that counters all that negativity at times.
 
S

Silatuyok

Well-known member
Yes, I go back and think, "well gee, that explains a lot." I also did this recently when I discovered and accepted my own generalized anxiety. Suddenly, all the badness I had been feeling since I was a small child made sense to me. It's so simple: I just always had anxiety.
 
L

LOOK

Member
bhn said:
An abnormal level of anxiety is mental illness is being crazy. Now you know.
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No. Anxiety at any level isn't a mental illness. It's a reaction to something. But if it diminishes the sufferer's capacity for reality-testing, then the sufferer may be said to have a mental illness.
 
chris11

chris11

Well-known member
I think that people with anxiety disorders generally tend to be quite self aware. Although, they may have a hard time (as I did, and continue to do) to form and maintain a self-identity. After you go through something as horendous as an anxiety disorder, you have to redefined your self entirerelly. And this is horrifying--especially if that disorder has been pervasive most of your life.
 
L

LOOK

Member
chris11 said:
I think that people with anxiety disorders generally tend to be quite self aware. Although, they may have a hard time (as I did, and continue to do) to form and maintain a self-identity. After you go through something as horendous as an anxiety disorder, you have to redefined your self entirerelly. And this is horrifying--especially if that disorder has been pervasive most of your life.
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Yes, agreed. What I was saying to bhn is that if, or when, anxiety reaches such high levels that one can no longer function normally, then and only then can we say that the person has a mental illness. But mere anxiety itself, no matter how extreme, isn't a mental illness.
 
Chess

Chess

Well-known member
I recognize it as a condition that can be analyzed and worked on rather than some hideous abnormality that I don't understand. I'd like to try to repair friendships I let fall apart and get in on opportunities that I let pass me by.
 
BlueDays

BlueDays

1
Yes, yes and yes.
I know exactly what you mean about the "What if" trap. I always think back over my life and think what could have been achieved if I had the knowledge and information about social anxiety earlier in my life.
It did help to find out I failed in life because of a legitimate reason.
 
razzle dazzle rose

razzle dazzle rose

Well-known member
bhn said:
I also keep falling into the "what if" trap, going back down the memory lane, changing a little detail in a remembered situation, and wondering how could that have impacted my life as a whole (a butterfly effect kind of thing).
Click to expand...

I think about this often. Especially these past couple of days. I see all the ways I have dug myself deeper into this hole. It is incredibly upsetting.

chris11 said:
After you go through something as horendous as an anxiety disorder, you have to redefined your self entirerelly. And this is horrifying--especially if that disorder has been pervasive most of your life.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It is gonna be the biggest project of my life I feel.
 
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