Trying to get some winter flowers blooming- these are 2 amaryllis and some paper whites in the middle. going out and raking leaves or pulling weeds for a half hour or three hours is something I really like. That being said I love taking care of plants and doing yard work. Once in awhile I will try tackling a whole closet or a cabinet that has gotten out of hand… This can be quite a project lol ). I am a slob by nature but doing light housework really helps me with anxiety so I don’t mind doing it at all. Light housework – like straightening up, laundry, vacuuming etc. Its nice to find simple everyday things that make you happy and then actually do those things. Find that as time passes you feel betterįinding free time fillers that make me feel good or at best don’t make me feel more agitated has been really nice. Make a list of things to fill the free time.ģ. It might sound counter-intuitive to have to plan out your free time, but I have found this is one of the best things I can do to be able to survive having a large span of free time and not succumb to anxious thoughts. Managing Free Time and Anxiety – The Right Way The goal of having free time is to feel relaxed, but it is a paradox when you’re anxious. I remember even in my 20s on my days off I would have so much free floating anxiety that I would find any excuse to start drinking just to calm me the hell down. It happened all the time when I was a full time stay at home mom. The free time anxiety syndrome can happen on weekends or on any weekday that I’m not scheduled to work. I do feel guilty that I wasn’t around a lot during those 2 years, but I am not going to beat myself up about it today. ![]() Its a few years since then and it’s really not conducive to being a wife and mom not to ever be home on the weekends, so I now bear my weekends like a good recovering anxious soldier. But I worked every other weekend plus every Sunday for over 2 years. Everyone at work was relieved that there was some chick willing to fill an extra Sunday time slot, but I did it because I hated being home and anxious on Sundays.Īs a full time nurse, you are usually required to work every other weekend. To me, a weekend represents 2 full unscheduled days- the prospect of which can scare the living crap out of me.Īt my last job, I volunteered to work every Sunday just for that reason. Weekends are especially challenging for me as an anxious person. The busy times sort of ebb and flow through the week. I’ve noticed that when I am really busy and don’t have time to think about anxiety, my days tend to go pretty smoothly.īut I can’t live my life at warp speed- it just doesn’t work that way. If I don’t, then the anxiety tends to snowball and my thinking gets all messed up and distorted and then pretty soon I’m having anxiety symptoms and anticipating the arrival of the next panic attack. What I mean by that is I have to keep busy when I have free time, especially when I am feeling anxious. I don’t do well in general with free time, it is not something that comes naturally to me… ![]() This gives my mind plenty of time to wreak havoc on me. ![]() With my current job I often have a span of 2 or even 3 days off in between work days. As in what do you like to do in your free time?Īnxiety can make it pretty hard to “chillax” as my daughter would say. Today’s post is about having “Free Time” anxiety.
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