Stress Center Peer Support

I find when I go through a stressful time (nothing major like death or illness...I am talking more like adjustment problems with my son starting kindergarten or even a busy vacation) that I get through it OK and then when everything is settling down, the anxiety and spacey feelings seem to come out of nowhere. Does this happen to anyone else? Maybe it is what Lucinda says about being distracted. I find it hard to keep up my positive talk when it seems to come out of the blue. It's like a delayed reaction or something.

yes, this is exactly how it happens to me. We're so good at pressure, I think, so we are focused on what's happening and then when it's over, out brains feel the need to work in overdrive and act up.
It's not out of the blue; still has a source, but it's the after shock of it.
I'm still in "after shock" from a couple of weeks ago, but I'm getting frustrated so much that I react like I do that I'm having a tough time being kind to myself so it's still dragging along behind me...
Each batch of this can be a learning experience if we'll let it.

KDlady:
I can relate to your term "after shocks". I will try to let this all be a learning experience. I decided to go back to the basics and brought out my little spiral notebook to track my thoughts and work on replacement thoughts. I think it helps to do it in writing again. Like you, it is hard not to get frustrated with myself (or with life, or God, or my doctors or whomever), but that is counterproductive.

This sounds very familiar. I think that we're so used to being in crisis mode that we handle the crisis well, but if we're not taking care of ourselves eventually it has to come out somewhere. The big part is being kind to yourself. I'm the queen of being hard on myself but I know that is very counter-productive.