Stress Center Peer Support

Everyday I struggle with anxiety on different levels. Somedays it's not so bad, other days it's worse and I even manage to have a few weeks here and there that seem perfect. However...

I just started this program a few days ago and am still on Session 1, but things have started to make sense to me just listening to that first tape.

My husband and I started marriage counseling as he has internet issues but while we were in there he was saying things that made me think. I realized that we never leave the small town we live in and we never visit his friends that often either. We went to a wedding this past weekend and all of his friends were there but I got anxious. I know everyone and really like everyone but I think I have issues with large groups of people and I wanted soo badly to go home. Our counselor said that his issue is that he lacks excitement in his life so he is seeking that "excitement" feeling out in other ways which leads us to his internet issue. I never realized before how my anxiety affected him. Because of me, we do the same things, with the same people all the time. Same bars, same drinks, same people, everything. Nothing changes but the date. I feel really bad but I'm sure there are other things I do or don't do because of my anxiety that I just haven't realized yet.

But, at least now that I am starting with this program, I have an opportunity to take care of myself which will also help with problems in my marriage. Has anyone else had their anxiety affect their friends or family?

My anxiety issues have affected my relationship with my family, although probably not in the same way as in a marriage situation.

My family sees me in a different light than most of the rest of the world, because it is with them that I tend to "over-react" to situations. Even when I've been doing better, they still expect me to be the one that gets a little crazy.

I'm hoping that as time goes by, they will see me as a more "normal" person.

wow - has it ever effected my relationships! I recently ended a friendship with a person I was friends with since high school because she always wanted to go...always at a bar, or in the city, or to a movie, or a club or the beach and I just couldn't do it. I was afraid to tell her why I never wanted to go out so she got offended by my aloofness and we wound up getting in an argument and I said I didn't want to be friends anymore... seemed easier than telling her the truth at the time.

My husband also is effected. We never really go out anymore. I used to be really active and up for anything... now he can barely drag me out to go food shopping. We used to run errands together so it wouldn't seem like a chore but now I just beg him to go alone. When he wants to go out I tell him to just go with his friends. Just last weekend he told me he missed going out and having fun with me and he's sad I'm always holed up in the house.

That's the main reason I chose to start this program. I feel like my anxiety has cost me so much... I couldn't let it cost me my husband too.