Has anxiety ever derailed you?
It derails me kind of frequently. It can get you, especially when you have a highly sensitive, reactive brain. It makes it harder, it just does. In Part I of Tool School, we covered 38 tools for preventing overwhelm and anxiety... and answered 9 questions. There are more tools on the list and more questions to address.
Questions asked:
- This is a follow up question to the question that somebody else submitted on 8/2 about navigating their husband’s overstimulating energy. Alane, you had the suggestion of making a rule for the husband to leave or else to take it upon oneself to leave. I’m not in the exact same situation but it resonates a lot. My questions have to do with how to implement your suggestions. My husband and I agreed that he would leave but in the height of his emotion he has refused. 1) How have you enforced that rule in your household? I literally don’t know how women have “kicked their husband out” of the house. have I just not been assertive enough? 2) I’ve left the house for a few hours at a time since my husband has refused - it seems better but also not since my husband doesn’t have the awareness or acceptance around his heightened emotions. How to deal with that? Couples counseling is off the table.
- Sleep is so important! When I don’t get enough sleep, I feel my anxiety increase during the day (perhaps because it decreases my window of tolerance) but also my anxiety about sleep itself increases. It gets even worse when insomnia is chronic. How do I manage pre-sleep and middle of the night anxiety about sleeping?
Thank you to the authors of both questions above as I was the one to ask about dealing with my husband’s energy and I also have sleep issues. I often wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding. It might actually be early menopause but either way it feels like anxiety! This has me awake and going down rabbit holes before I even realize I’m awake. I try to listen to apps on my phone (Headspace, Fabulous, Audible) to get out of my own head but it hasn’t been working lately. Do you have any tips?
- I was curious to know if you’ve any advice about the group of HSPs with “giftedness”/multipotentialite, and how anxiety affects them?