[kgirl08]

So... does anyone ever experience anxiety about things that should be “happy or exciting...”

I was literally GIVEN a car recently, which I needed, so I was relieved and excited, but the anticipation about waiting for the car to arrive/be ready for me to get, literally made me sick and debilitated. I could not function. And I could not express positive excitement.

I feel like happy things trigger me... because being happy and having something good or exciting just feels like dread... anticipating disappointment.

I am truly being robbed of joy. I am so frustrated with myself.

Also, in the moment, I knew I wasn’t feeling well, but I couldn’t regulate or talk to myself rationally. I was just overwhelmed with the sickness... it really fuels self hatred.

hi,

I wonder if this is just down to temporary enjoyment, and that actually- their's more in life you really want to do, but for some reason you can't

example: one of the things on my bucket list is to go to disneyland california, but I can't go to disney since I am scared of airports and I'm scared of plains

so I can watch videos from disney, I can go to places near me that resemble disney, I can order disney stuff from amazon- but it's all just temporary enjoyment, I'll never actually get to disney

I wonder if your situation is the same

like: sure you have the car, but wouldn't it be better if it had this feature, this, this and this?. see what I'm getting at?

[mogwai]

Normal anticipation is like low level anxiety and the sensations are similar. Are you someone who gets anxious about feeling anxious? (I mean when you start feeling anxiety, does that make you freak out about the possibility of it getting worse or becoming a panic attack?) If so, before it gets out of hand can you reason with yourself that this feeling is just anticipation and list reasons why this is a positive situation?

Do you have thoughts of dread about it? e.g. what if the car breaks down, what if I don't like it... Or is it mostly about the physical sensations of anxiety and anticipation?

Do you have a lot going on in your life right now? Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed and the anxiety of that overshadows the good things I have going on.

[adj92]

I experience anxiety about a lot of things. It sucks. I hate feeling always trapped happy or not

[WishfulThinker66]

I really get this.

In my case I worry about deserving such things or waiting for some catastrophe to befall me that will turn it all into a disaster. I don't feel worthy of good things to the point that I have self-sabotaged them or avoided them happening.

I myself had a similar situation with a new car to me. As I waited I anticipated too something ruining the experience. When I did get the car I spent a month worrying over doing something wrong and was unable to enjoy it. It was as though I had the expectation it was all a mistake and that it would be taken away from me.

[MickeyCheeky]

I think it's normal. You have certain expectations, the only difference is that they're positive this time. What skills do you usually use to cope with "normal" anxiety?