[lala-land123]

For several years now, I've been anxious about my kids leaving for vacations. I have "extended" agoraphobia - I can't drive out of town. During the summer, they spend 2 weeks at grandpa's house which is 2 hours away, and after Christmas they spend another week there. Now grandma is taking them for Easter, she lives 1 1/2 hours away, and I'm very anxious about being anxious while the kids are gone.

I also remember when they left for Christmas, I was an emotional wreak, even asking my son if he wanted to stay. I do believe it was this breakdown that lead into my current relapse.

So, I made a to-do list for the weekend, a positives list about the kids being gone, but last night I had a panic attack and couldn't sleep well.

How to I stop being anxious about them being gone?

[hvert]

Hi, I don't have any good ideas about reducing the anxiety, but I hope you are okay this weekend. It's great that you are trying to work on this instead of just telling the kids they can't go.

Sometimes I find that breathing steadily and intentionally distracting myself can take the edge off when those thoughts come up.

[nummy]

If you can't drive out of town, are there other sources of transportation? Busses? Of can you work on this with therapy? Sounds awful. Yes, good you are thinking this over, but make alternate (helpful) plans, ruminating alone might make you more anxious. If you keeping thinking worst case scenario, surely your brain will think that's what you meant. So maybe you can think something happier ending?