Stress Center Peer Support

Hi Everyone,
I am back again... I have been trying to kick this anxiety for 9 years now. It's come and gone(sort-of) but lately it's back with a vengence! I have recently become OBSESSED with the thought of dying! Not the pain of it or anything like that, the obsurdity and uncertainty of it. I have read post after post trying to find releif and it's been very tough.. I keep trying to tell myself that my fear is no different than everyone elses, but I'm having a hard time believing that since my fear is really going to happen one day. I desperatly need to hear from someone who has gone through this and what you did to get ok with it, because i am stuck in a panic attack about it and am not sure what to do!! It's almost like I'm afraid to let it go?? I can relate to everything that the preacher on the tapes is talking about and it's terrifying! I feel like there is no way that this fear could ever go away because it is a fact of life. HELP!!!
Thanks for reading
Anna

Anna,
Stop fighting the fear. Become friends with it. Yes, one day you will die. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday. Get comfortable with that. You can even write up a worst case scenerio about your death. Really make it horrific. Then read it over and over for twenty to forty five minutes a day until you no longer are affected by it. Write your obit. Really get into it - in writing. When you are through for that 20 minutes, let yourself know that it's OK to worry about this but it will have to wait until such and such a time tomorrow.

Embrace your thoughts about death and dying. If you didn't give a hoot one way or the other if you had these thoughts you would be totally unaffected by them. Do you see?

Do the above exercise daily so that you can finally have some peace.

I totally have a daily fear of dying. It think about it way too much. It's like I am writing my own headline sometimes! Even at work, I think about "What if I just passed out here and all my co-workers were freaked out and no one knew what happened?" Yes, I have discovered that this is a big issue that is at the core of my anxiety. Hope this helps.

Thank you boon and chillax.
I think my core issue is that I'm not good enough for God (or anyone else for that matter). I worry about not "making it" to heaven. I'm trying really hard to just accept it and move on, but I think there is a deeper issue here...

There's no deep hidden cause for this. How can you accept and move on when you believe there's a deeper issue causing it? This is what you're telling yourself. There's no wonder your mind, body are exhausted, you're telling it you're in danger. You're going to die. So let it kill you. Stop running around it in circles and face it head on.

You're probably telling yourself now, but, my fear is worse than everyone elses. He might be giving good advice, but it won't work for me, I have something different going on, something deep-seeded. You're stuck in a panic attack because you keep throwing gas on the fire. What if, What if, What if. Your entire post were thoughts you added yourself to your question about death. This is a cycle.

No one knows where they're going but God. Stop trying to control everthing including your death and destination thereafter. Let go of this tense hold you have on yourself. If you observe a typical day, you'll notice you're doing a few things wrong.

You're running away from fear, not facing it.
You're putting up with it, not accepting it.
You're fighting, not floating.
You're anxiously awaiting to feel better, not letting time pass for your body to heal.

You're going to live.

Derik