Too scared to live | Anxiety

Anxiety

I have already written about anxiety in my blog Too scared to live (too young to die). We all get anxious sometimes, but it can be a real problem if you get anxious all the time and it interferes with your life. I am a little nervous today because I have an appointment at the hospital in the picture. It is fear of the unknown, but I’ll cope!

I got nervous a long time ago, when I was going to work and train in a new place. It was deep underground and I went early in the morning armed with a new security pass to get the into a nuclear bomb shelter. I arrived and went through security and into a lift (elevator) and went deep underground; not surprisingly I was nervous! The underground complex was a maze of concrete tunnels and through a second security barrier and I was in the office where I had to wait alone to talk to the guy in charge. That was when nervous turned to really nervous! The door to the office was over six inches thick and closed but I could still hear the alarm when it went off; a klaxon in concrete tunnels is hard to ignore, it was deafening! That would scare anyone, but it turned out not to be World War Three but a problem with the equipment.

That was what the cold war was like, scary. It was about mutually assured destruction, the devastation that would be heaped upon the world was too much to contemplate; but it was still possible. The superpowers postured and preened and thought themselves too powerful to be challenged. It has more or less ended now but there are still nuclear weapons and we still fight conventional wars. Is it worth the cost? Is it worth all the destruction?

That anxiety was caused by international conflict between superpowers, but anxiety is often caused by conflict closer to home with our friends or relatives. Should we be diplomatic and rise above such conflicts or should we be unforgiving and stand up for ourselves; the psychological consequences of conflict can be devastating anxiety and even deep depression. It is often a better course to be diplomatic and not go down to the level of others, rise above the conflict. The name calling may mean you are regarded as the stupid one, the ugly one, the boring one – whatever. If they call you stupid, show how clever you are! If they call you ugly show them you have a beautiful personality! If they call you boring show them how interesting you can be!

The causes of anxiety are complex and it has a lot to do with low self esteem. Our self esteem can be destroyed by others who don’t give us the respect we deserve or are envious of us needlessly. It helps to keep busy, which is why I am writing this! It helps to be prepared and I will get ready for my appointment as soon as this is finished. We also have things that help us relax, watching television, reading a book, it varies from person to person. It’s driving with me and so I will drive around a little before I drive to the hospital; I know it’s silly and a waste of fuel, but it works!

I have written my thrifty and frugal blogs this week and of course a Neodigital Art blog. You can also find links to all my recent blogs on my Home Page.

We do strange things when we’re nervous, I forgot to post this blog! Things went well at  the hospital apart from the £2.00 parking charge…

 

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