scalyfreak

Yes, that sounds very familiar. I would second Harriet's suggestion to see someone about this as well, if nothing else because you just noticed a difference in how your anxiety behaves, and that is worth investigating. It's an illness, not a personal weakness, and there is nothing wrong with seeking out a medical expert for illnesses of our minds just as we do when it's our bodies who are sick. A good therapist is invaluable for dealing with anxiety, but only if you are open to working with them all the way. If not, the sessions will be a waste of time. That said, practically every therapist I've ever heard of offer short and free intro-sessions, where you just meet them and talk and try to find out if you're comfortable with them. A lot of them will do that conversation over the phone as well, to make it easier for possible patients to reach them. Just something to think about.

That's what the timer is for. You can set it to be a silent timer, or a timer with background noise (I do this one, to block out distracting noises). There's a bunch of options for starting bell and ending chime as well, but the timer itself is really just a timer. I think they added that feature specifically for someone who wants to do their own thing. Once you start browsing the app, I recommend the Anxiety category, as it has a ton of meditations that are some variety of "Mindfulness for easing anxiety". Personally, I found them very helpful, especially when combined with breathing exercises from the category Secular Mindfullness.

That's why it's called a disorder, because something outside our control is wrong and makes us anxious when there is no need for that to happen. Stick around and you'll notice that several of your fellow Warriors deal with anxiety of some kind, including battling several of the physical symptoms you describe. I don't think I've had a good nights sleep since June or so. But we face the anxiety, like we do any other opponent, because if we ignore it, we only give Anxiety an opening to sucker punch or backstab us, and that makes it worse. In addition to probiotics, I suggest peppermint and ginger drinks, as they both are known for settling upset stomachs.

My favorite meditation app has a lot of guided practices focused on mindfulness, how to cultivate it and become better at it. Based on that observation, may I suggest you consider combining these two quests, or at least working on them in tandem? Mediation leads to mindfulness leads to being more mindful while eating... The app is Insight Timer.

Thank you. You and me both...

Aw, that is sweet. Cats are such affectionate animals.

Cut back on the stomach liner solvents. Fail. Make gym fun again. Fail Carry-over from previous challenge: Attack Procrastination Two of my items have sold on ThredUp! I'm making pocket change on the sales, but that's not the point. It's fun to see them being purchased by someone. However, I haven't even tried to deal with any of the many other things I have been procrastinating on, after this, so this also ends on a fail-ish note. Last Thursday, I destroyed two of Stress Hydra's heads. One of them respawned briefly (the one involving a legal compliance audit), but I was able to slay it again before it reached full strength. Then I failed my save against Insomnia. And against alcohol, greasy food and candy. And then Husband's Stress Monster, that he has been fighting, broke out from work and invaded everything and things got worse from there. At the time I wrote them I was worried my goals may have been a little too ambitious, and it turns out I was right. For next challenge I will learn from the wisdom of @Gemma and get back to basics. Scalyfreak forfeits Round 2.

For me, the ones I barely have the energy to go to end up being the most helpful ones. It's like doms - the best way to get rid of them is to do another workout. Glad the therapy helped!

Sadly not. Final challenge update to come in the very near future...

Kicking anxiety while it's down is the best time to do it. I went through this phase when i started learning English and later when learning German I have now forgotten. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I wanted to scream at someone that "I AM SMART! Just not in your language." I feel your pain.

I took a picture for my family:

After much deliberation I decided to inject my turkey with orange mango juice that first simmered with salt, pepper, some minced garlic and onion, and a twig of fresh rosemary. I then stuffed the turkey with wedges cut from a lemon and from an orange, and more twigs of rosemary. The turkey is currently in the oven, and the neck and giblets are simmering in a dutch oven, in a liquid that will become gravy in a few hours. The cajun seasoning will happen in the future, when there is less stress in the life of this household, since delicate stomachs don't tend to be appreciative of cajun spices.

Well, it's not good for small children either, but... yeah.

Only if you want to have children.