My friend said it slowly with sadness.
“You are always waiting for the shoe to drop.”
When things are going well, I worry about the next terrible thing that will happen that will turn my life upside down and cause me to have to scramble into survivor mode and solve the problem.
Adult children of alcoholics and anxiety
Anxiety disorders affects many people who lived in dysfunctional environments, particularly children of alcoholics or those with other substance use disorders.
When everything is going okay in my life, I am always thinking: This is temporary. What’s going to happen next?
I am perpetually afraid that something terrible is going to happen!!
That’s because throughout my life, calmness has not lasted long. I. was. Always. In. Survival. Mode. When you live in chaotic world, you can never let your guard down because at any given moment, crisis can hit. We have trouble fully relaxing.
As I make progress on my healing journey, I have trouble shaking the familiar fear that something bad is coming so I must stay in ready mode. Even as I key this right now, I had a flash of fear that I am attracting something bad by writing about the fear of it. Good grief.
How to stop worrying about something terrible happening
When I begin feeling like this, I do three things:
1. Double down on self-care activities.
I intentionally focus on self-care activities like getting enough sleep to make sure I am thinking clearly and making healthy choices.
2. Make sure that boundaries I set are intact.
The last thing I’d want to do is create problems to deal with by taking down the boundaries I worked hard to put into place.
3. Review my goals for this awesome life I’m creating.
They’re detailed on a vision board and in a notebook. This keeps me focused. If I am taking good care of myself and focused on my goals, then I’m reminded that I don’t have time or energy to give to worrying or inventing the what-if situations.
I hope you are so well in your journey.
Jody Lamb is an author, blogger and adult child of an alcoholic on a journey to create an awesome grownup life. Visit JodyLamb.com. Twitter and Instagram: @JodyMLamb. YouTube: /JodyLamb. Facebook.com/JodyLambAuthor.
