Do i have some kind of anxiety disorder?
Before I full explain, I just want to say that I'm still quite young, almost twenty years old, so I suppose that this could possibly come down to confidence. I'm still finding my feet, figuring my life out and I am quite sensitive in some ways, although I can be feisty.
Basically, I've started to realise that I may have a bit of an issue with anxiety. My 'strange' behaviour and feelings always occur whenever I fear that I might get into trouble with an authority figure. whenever I make a mistake or slip up around my parents, my managers at work and when I was at school, I could feel anxious about upsetting my teachers.
Whenever I disappoint someone in some sort of authority position, I immediately feel my heart rate increase. I feel nauseous, a little bit faint, lightheaded and I get shaky. My mouth becomes very dry, like I've been walking around outside whilst dehydrated. I always fear facing the problem and even if it's daft, I can feel very desperate, like I want to just walk out of the room, building, etc and just keep on walking away forever and ever. I feel childish for admitting this but I do also want to be alone so I can cry. Thankfully, I can control this most of the time because I want to mature and grow a thicker skin. If I feel particularly worried or panicked, I can also feel quite numb and my hands become very cold/stiff.
I can get nervous whenever I don't know where I'm going, when I need to do something new on my own, etc but I put that down to a lack of confidence. I can keep myself very calm, I force myself to just deal with a lack of directions, doing a task alone, etc. I'm fine with all of that really and I already feel like my confidence is growing when it comes to these two issues.
It really is just the fear I have of letting down authority figures.
I do have an issue where I'm not comfortable telling my parents about any problems I have. I personally don't feel like I connect with my mother particularly well and I can be easily angered by her. We both know that we have our ups and downs but I don't have abusive parents. Even during the times when I feel a little afraid or hurt by my mothers actions, past comments that she's made, the way she had handled past situations, I know that she's NOT abusive. I've got damn good parents, I just think that it's down to me being a little sensitive and these issues not being addressed when I was around 12. Sometimes parents can accidentally/unintentionally make errors and they impact their children. No child has perfect parents.
I do wish I could be closer to mine. I do envy the kids who can comfortably cuddle their parents.
I was a good kid, I always was. Every child will make mistakes, every kid goes through a rough patch - for me it was during my A Levels. I never went off the rails, I never did anything scandalous or upset my parents to the point where they wanted me out of the house, nothing like that. I think it's just a small issue that's grown over time and there's a broken bridge between me and my parents, especially my mother. I do love my mam, I just can't always connect with her or like her all of the time.
I'm saying this because I think this could explain my fear/worry over disappointing authority figures.
I hate letting people down but I am still learning my way so it's inevitable.
The reason why I'm mostly concerned is because once the issue is resolved, I still often need a good few hours or so to fully calm down.
I only feel calmer and more in control of myself when I remove myself from the situation, i.e when I leave my house to go for a walk, when I take refuge in my room, when I leave work.
Until this happens, I will feel unsettled and I still feel shaky. I need to focus harder to make sure that my concentration is focused on my tasks when I'm at work.
I would love to hear back from anyone about this issue.
I don't want to run to the doctors for medication, that's an absolute last resort. I have friends who suffer so terribly from anxiety that it is hell for them. In comparison, I just sound like a whiny adult who still needs to learn to mature.
I would just like to hear other people's opinions and see if this is something 'normal', something that everyone can feel or if I need to take steps to control this. Perhaps I could look into self help or just try different things until I find something that works for me.
I'm very confused over this and I would just like to reach out to someone, anyone who would understand.
Thank you.