Honest Conversations About Self-Inducing Stress and Anxiety

This has been a topic I’ve wanted to write about for a very long time if I can be honest. The main reason that this topic is so important to me is because this is the root of all the stress, anxiety, and mental health issues…myself. Now everyone has their own culprits or reasons as to what triggers their own mental health issues, although in my case, and maybe even yours, is that I cause myself such extreme amounts of unneeded and unnecessary stress that it sparks my mental health issues I face and experience. 

A few examples of how I know I self-induce my mental health issues is through school, work, even relationships with others, and my relationship with myself. At school, I would sign up for every club and every opportunity even if I was overbooked in order to gain extra experiences to add to my resume, but at the same time it was at the cost of extreme stress, weight gain, anxiety, times of depression, and even horrible migraines. At work, I work extra hours and multiple jobs – and honestly kill myself for yes, good pay and good work experiences, but again the cost of not seeing friends and having a a personal life, migraines, stress, no sleep, and the list continues. 

I have been the reason why I can’t be in a relationship because my mind self-sabotages and creates stress around my feelings for others. I get inside my head feeling not good enough at times. This creates a state of panic where I don’t know how to communicate how I feel, and then end up stuck. I’m likewise the reason that I have self-esteem issues: my mind makes me go into a constant state of comparing myself to others. I get obsessed with how I look and how people perceive me. 

I am the reason for all my negative thoughts – and the only reason I can control these experiences and feelings is only if I can learn to control myself. 

It’s not even healthy to mentally feel this way, to have no sleep, to not see friends, to not be happy. 

I feel like I’m at a stage where I need to say “no” more often, listen to my body, stay positive, avoid social media, and again what feels like a list of a million and one things to do is making me dread how to get better. 

Although, if I can also be honest,  I feel that understanding I’m the trigger is the biggest step. From here, I need to make a plan as to how to conquer and improve these different areas where I cause myself stress. I’m thinking that understanding when and where to set boundaries at work and school is step #1, and step #2 is being more capable of saying “no.”

In terms of relationships with others and myself, I feel like the ultimate way to improve is to block out time to prioritize weekly towards seeing friends, and then a personal time to budget away. Oftentimes, I feel like I’m working 24/7 and its a constant repeat, but by time-blocking and pre-scheduling, these two areas will make me much happier and productive. 

Lastly, I feel like I’m always in my head whether that is with relationships, or my body image and self-esteem. I am at a point where I just need to focus on myself, and be open to sharing my true feelings with others. Also, just filling my mind with positivity and good imagery of health is what I need in my life versus playing the comparison game. 

I’m curious if anyone feels similar to me, or has any tips to share in any of these areas to help me out 🙂

Have you ever walked yourself through your biggest triggers and things that cause you stress and anxiety? What are things that you think you can control? What have you done to help navigate your triggers to the extent that you can control?