How to live with fear

[Guest [Ho...]]

How do you deal with fear? I am for some reason terrified of my house. I'm OCD and checking everything, convinced that something is horribly wrong with my house, that its trying to kill me. I'm stressed about every little thing. I cant just sell and move. How do I live through this? I'm 13 months off and it has gotten really bad. Anyone deal with this, does it get better?

[[sh...]]

Hello,

I have been experiencing worsening fear from the time my tolerance withdrawal symptoms started. I have general fear of basically everything, for instance the sky is a forever green topic for my brain. I am having a hard time to be outside of my house. I sleep with my lights and TV on, also check all the doors before going to bed. Purchased different burglary preventative devices put them on the windows, put up cameras active and fake ones and considering hiring security service (not uncommon in my area). I found it helpful to talk about my fear with family or friends, also when the worst fear hits a good, strong, supportive hug helps me to feel more secure. The fear symptoms come in waves. I am so sorry you have been experiencing them for so long!

I find that of my main subject of fear (currently the sky) varies time to time. Do not know what causes them to switch.

[[re...]]

I have encountered this as well, and I consider it a chemically driven fear because there is no earthly reason for it other than BW and what our brains are having to go through.  The reason I believe this is because when I get the blessed reprieve and it subsides briefly then I ask myself, "What the heck were you so afraid of?"  In those moments I am able to recognize that the fear is completely illogical.

 

I try very hard to remember how I felt during those lucid moments and remind myself that the fear is just artificially created by my BW mind.  Recognize the fear, tell yourself it is just your brain overreacting because of chemicals, and then remind yourself that everything is fine.  I know this is easier said than do, but do your best to practice practice practice.  Do not reinforce the fear by avoiding what causes the fear because this will only reinforce in your mind that it is something to be afraid of.

 

I have the odd fear of hearing myself speak, something that I have been doing for over 50 years.  I will get very focused on my voice, what I am saying, etc, and it all sounds so foreign that it disturbs me.  In those moments I remind myself that it is just BW and I press on.  The fact that it doesn't happen all the time is a clear indication that it is a BW symptom and nothing more.  The same for fears of a house, fears of the outdoors, etc.  Things we never feared our whole lives that our minds decide to manifest into a symptom.

 

Cheers,

        RR

[[Ma...]]

You are early in withdrawal, your fears are chemically, its normal to feel this weird stuff.

At one point I kind of gave up and gave my fears names. Anytime they came to me I said "hello, XY - you again? Have a nice day". I had several fears and they still have names  It was helpful cause I did not fight them, but kind of annoyed welcomed them like an ugly family member.. sometimes it helped, sometimes not.

But against the overall feeling of not being safe and getting freighted easily, - only time was helpful, really.