Had anxiety for most of my life tried all sorts to cure it from self medicating to prescription meds and nothing worked until I cut off my parents… Its an odd one cos yeah interacting with them caused me ridiculous anxiety but somehow that anxiety bled into every other facet of my life. I was anxious about everything all the time to such ridiculous degrees I remember once making myself sick because… The shade of my pants didn’t perfectly match my shirt? Idk it was really wierd things. Stopped me from going outside at all I’d spend almost all day every day just paralysed in fear.

Then i cut off my parents and a friend who caused a lot of problems and suddenly I’m fine. Almost like I never had anxiety in the first place levels of fine. Traveling 6 hours across the country with no prior plan in place or looking up routes causing me little to no worry kind of fine…

I still don’t quite get it tbh. Probably doesn’t help anyone as it feels very specific to me but maybe there’s that kind of trigger for others. A person or people in your life that constantly sabotage your mental defenses leaving you in constant flight or fight state or basically even the thought of knowing you might have to interact with them is exhausting

What helped me was medication. I have generalized anxiety, and I really think that the physical symptoms were driving a lot of the mental stuff. A kind of biofeedback. Medication has pretty well blunted the physical sensations of anxiety and I find it easier to change my mindset without that constant physical reminder that “hey, don’t forget to worry!”

One small thing that can help with stress and doom loops: box breathing. If you can learn it, it might help a little.