I just wanna talk a sec about sustained anxiety, which a lot of you are experiencing right now. Take everything as YMMV, of course.
So in 2017, halfway through directing a movie, I had to have emergency heart surgery. There were 24 of the longest hours of my life between being diagnosed with an anomalous right coronary artery and surgery, and then 11 unbearable days in the ICU, then many months of recovery
I had an anxiety disorder already. I tend to spiral on worst case scenarios, obsessively research symptoms, have psychosomatic manifests (ie - I worry that I have arm cancer, and then my arm will go numb)
These are just about the worst things to mix with a major surgery/recovery
These are just about the worst things to mix with a major surgery/recovery
But if you are new to the experience of every day being excessively worried about health or just the world in general, here is the good news:
you will bottom out.
you will bottom out.
Our bodies are designed to handle only so much stress at once and then they just... stop (in most cases. If you have underlying issues like OCD or bipolar, it’s harder.)
In fact, the way many therapists treat anxiety is to expose you to what you’re afraid of.
In fact, the way many therapists treat anxiety is to expose you to what you’re afraid of.
In the ICU, there were constant beepings and buzzing. My lung collapsed and then re-collapsed, requiring and emergency bedside placement of a chest tube. There was an EARTHQUAKE. My heart kept going nuts.
Eventually, it got boring.
Eventually, it got boring.
Your stress capacity isn’t like your physical capacity. Tread water long enough and you’ll run out of physical strength and drown. But tread a stressful situation long enough? Most of us will get used to it, and then get bored.
You may feel like you’re on an emotional roller coaster right now. Things may not feel entirely real. You may get shocked every few minutes by the realization that this is actually happening. This is your psyche gradually attuning to the situation.
I can’t promise that this isn’t going to be hard. We’re all learning to grapple with many challenges right now. What I can mostly promise is that in two weeks, your brain is going to be more capable of handling the things that feel overwhelming right now. It will level.
