Which Negative Emotion or Emotions Do You Experience the Most?

[Orbit]

12 votes for anxiety so far. What have folks found that helps?

 

[Windwalker]

12 votes for anxiety so far. What have folks found that helps?

Make that 13. That's my burden to bear.

For me, I found getting good exercise, meditation, and watching my mind not allowing it to get into the swirling vortex of negative and anxious thoughts help to not feed that beast. It's like the "two dogs warring" story, that the one that wins is the one you feed the most.

The other major part of managing it is quitting any sort of caffeine use, as that is a stimulate. And quitting all forms of self-medication, just as getting high and using alcohol. Getting rid of both of those was a major step in managing anxiety.

Those can be a lot like smoking a cigarette, you think it's making you feel calmer, but it actually is only pushing the stress down momentarily, only to have it create its own anxiety in wanting another one to be calm again.

It's been about a year and half now since I've had any substance use of any kind. No caffeine, no nicotine, no thc, no alcohol, and no swearing either, for the most part. I'm as pure as the wind-driven snow now.

I'd say my anxiety has dropped well over 90 - 95%, just in those alone. The habit of negative thinking cycles is the last addiction to go. Am still in the process of undoing that habit.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I guess it's my turn to answer the OP too: the one that affects me most is deep sadness, by far. Also occasional hopelessness, but thankfully, I always bounce back from it and realize it's illogical.

I don't get angry or anxious. They're not even feelings that I need to control; they just don't arise to begin with. I sometimes get irritated, but that almost always dissipates within days at most and doesn't include outbursts, shouting, or anything of the sort.

Sometimes I wonder whether my life would be easier if my emotions manifested in anger and anxiety instead of being condensed into deep, piercing sadness. But on the bright side, the composure that this results in has also made it much easier for some people, including friends, to trust and rely on me in difficult situations.

 

[Heyo]

Am I in group therapy? Anxiety, exhaustion, hopelessness, apathy. All signs of various depressive disorders. Have you lost or gained weight lately? Do you sleep too little, too much, irregular? Do you read or post excessively on RF? Those might be co-signs.
Do at least an online test.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

I guess it's my turn to answer the OP too: the one that affects me most is deep sadness, by far. Also occasional hopelessness, but thankfully, I always bounce back from it and realize it's illogical.

I don't get angry or anxious. They're not even feelings that I need to control; they just don't arise to begin with. I sometimes get irritated, but that almost always dissipates within days at most and doesn't include outbursts, shouting, or anything of the sort.

Sometimes I wonder whether my life would be easier if my emotions manifested in anger and anxiety instead of being condensed into deep, piercing sadness. But on the bright side, the composure that this results in has also made it much easier for some people, including friends, to trust and rely on me in difficult situations.

The sadness you experience may have made you more empathetic to the emotional pain of others. I really believe that personal suffering (no matter what form it takes) teaches us something important. To quote Dr. McCoy from Star Trek: "A little suffering is good for the soul."

 

[Trailblazer]

Laziness.

That is not an emotion, that is a behavior.

 

[Debater Slayer]

The sadness you experience may have made you more empathetic to the emotional pain of others. I really believe that personal suffering (no matter what form it takes) teaches us something important. To quote Dr. McCoy from Star Trek: "A little suffering is good for the soul."

All professionals I've been to have told me that my empathy level needs to be reined in because an excess of empathy can be damaging if not managed properly. I think it's mostly the other way around for me: while certain experiences can definitely allow one to relate better to specific struggles that others experience, a lot of my sadness comes from seeing how certain things are (e.g., cruel laws or social norms) compared to how I wish they were.

I don't believe suffering is inherently good or has any necessary function; I just accept that it exists as a part of the world and try to adapt accordingly.

 

[Trailblazer]

Am I in group therapy? Anxiety, exhaustion, hopelessness, apathy. All signs of various depressive disorders. Have you lost or gained weight lately? Do you sleep too little, too much, irregular? Do you read or post excessively on RF? Those might be co-signs.
Do at least an online test.

I have anxiety over certain things that most people are not anxious about, like driving on unfamiliar roads or on freeways, and worrying that the house might burn down. I also worry about the cats but given my past experiences my worry about cats is not unwarranted.

Sometimes I feel hopeless and apathetic, hopeless that I will be alone the rest of my life and never retire and have a a life. Sometimes I am apathetic about doing certain things, mostly related to my house and property.

None of this is bad enough for me to be diagnosed with a depression, not anymore, but I have am diagnosed as having anxiety, although my counselor says it is well-managed..

 

[Revoltingest]

That is not an emotion, that is a behavior.

The behavior stems from the feeling, ie, emotion.

 

[Trailblazer]

The behavior stems from the feeling, ie, emotion.

Okay, you 'feel' lazy.

 

[Trailblazer]

Make that 13. That's my burden to bear.

Me too.

 

[Trailblazer]

12 votes for anxiety so far. What have folks found that helps?

I use logic and reason to talk myself out of the anxiety. Sometimes that involves getting information or talking to other people about what I am anxious about, and that sometimes helps me to realize there is really nothing to be anxious about. The anxiety is still there but dampened down.

Sometimes facing what I am anxious about, if I can, really helps me to be less anxious about it if I have to do it again.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

ETA I think sometimes having to mask or force emotions to help suit the needs of the situations is probably the most fatiguing part of it all.

That does tend to be exhausting work,

 

[Heyo]

The behavior stems from the feeling, ie, emotion.

The emotion, or better, lack of emotion, motivation, drive, cheerfulness, can also be a sign of depression. Laziness and depression are indistinguishable just by the behaviour.
Doesn't make it easy for me as I am lazy and depressive.

 

[Revoltingest]

Okay, you 'feel' lazy.

And I'm quite productive at it.

 

[Revoltingest]

The emotion, or better, lack of emotion, motivation, drive, cheerfulness, can also be a sign of depression. Laziness and depression are indistinguishable just by the behaviour.
Doesn't make it easy for me as I am lazy and depressive.

Depression sounds terrible.
Glad I never got to experience it.
You take care.

 

[Trailblazer]

And I'm quite productive at it.

I know you are productive and that is why you confused me when you said you feel lazy.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

All professionals I've been to have told me that my empathy level needs to be reined in because an excess of empathy can be damaging if not managed properly. I think it's mostly the other way around for me: while certain experiences can definitely allow one to relate better to specific struggles that others experience, a lot of my sadness comes from seeing how certain things are (e.g., cruel laws or social norms) compared to how I wish they were.

I don't believe suffering is inherently good or has any necessary function; I just accept that it exists as a part of the world and try to adapt accordingly.

If cruel laws and cruel social norms didn't affect some of us with personal suffering or an empathetic suffering on behalf of others, then we wouldn't feel a need to change things. I'm not saying that every injustice in the world can be changed because of how we feel, or that every person even feels as deeply about such things as some of the rest of us do. What I am saying is that (for some key people along the historical line of human intellectual and emotional evolution, who possess the imagination to envision a better world) a personal experience with suffering can change oneself. And changing oneself is the first step towards changing the world.

 

[Trailblazer]

The emotion, or better, lack of emotion, motivation, drive, cheerfulness, can also be a sign of depression.

I think those can be signs of depression, but not necessarily. Some people are just not very emotional, motivated or cheerful, and that is part of their personality. Also, a person can feel sad without being clinically depressed. If there is a reason to feel sad I think people should feel sad. I think there is something psychologically wrong with people who act cheerful even when there is a good reason to feel sad.

Not to undermine my religion but it just pisses me off that we are told to "be happy" all the time as if that was something we can order up like a burger. Unfortunately, some Baha'is are clueless, they are just like robots following a script. Count me out.

Laziness and depression are indistinguishable just by the behaviour.

That's true. A person can just be a lazy person or a person can act lazy because they are too depressed to do anything, or too depressed to do certain things. Then there is lack of motivation which is not necessarily laziness or depression. That is what I have when it comes to cooking, cleaning house, or doing yard work.

Doesn't make it easy for me as I am lazy and depressive.

I am definitely not lazy and I don't have a depression diagnosis but I have a depressive tendency. I don't understand cheerful people who are cheerful for no reason, just happy to be alive, etc. It's like they are from another planet.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

12 votes for anxiety so far. What have folks found that helps?

I’ve been doing good anxiety wise lately, and really what helps me basically boils down to not letting myself worry about things that really aren’t a big deal. It just took me a while to realize those things aren’t a big deal.