Are there any “regular” things that you do that cause you temporary high stress?
As for me…
(Almost) Every time I’m pulling out into traffic, I get very stressed if someone is waiting behind me to go. I like to be safe, so I wait until the coast is (very) clear. If no one is behind me, I’ll wait until hell freezes over if need be, but if there is someone behind me, I start having an internal dialogue…
“I should have gone…”
“This guy is gonna hate me”
“Screw him, I’m not going to risk my life for his schedule”
“I’m being stupid, just go”
“There was plenty of time to go there”
“I should have gone”
“Screw him” etc, etc…
And on and on, until I pull out, then the stress is 100% gone with nary another thought. My husband has similar issues with ordering at the drive-thru.
Sateryn76, I am WITH you, I will purposely go out of my way so that I don’t make any left turns to get to where I’m going (unless there is a stoplight)
Just being around my roommate is stressful for me. I would be fine with it if he wouldn’t do little things like comment on my phone conversations as soon as I hang up, leave his water bottles all over the house, announce when he is retiring to his room to masturbate, etc. I am always on edge waiting for him to bug me, so it’s like I’m permanently irritated with him. I think we’ll have to part ways after the holidays.
I have a large amount of stress caused by driving. By the time I get home in the afternoon, I’m sick of the car, I don’t want to go anywhere, and I’d rather spend the next week away from traffic. Of course, my 100+ mile a day commute helps this.
Me too! But not so much if someone’s behind me as it is if someone’s in the car with me. When I was learning to drive, I was super cautious and it drove my father crazy so he’d always be saying “Go! You should have gone! There was plenty of space! What are you waiting for??” And then my mother would yell at him for yelling at me. And I’d get all stressed out.
So now, 11+ years later, I still get stressed when having to make a left in traffic if anyone’s in the car because I’m half expecting them to yell at me for not pulling out into that tiny little space between two speeding cars.
Same here, though I have always been this way. I called to make an appointment at the tire place today. I have been psyching myself up for three weeks and finally was able to do it. Now I have to call the carpenter that I have been putting off for at least that long.
Before I can make a phone call I have to think of everything I will say and I have to try to anticipate everything the person on the other end will say. When they throw a curve ball at me I tend to panic and make bad choices or say the wrong thing.
I go into panic mode when I’m going to be late. Even just a few minutes late, and even if I know for a fact that the other person I’m meeting might even be later than me. This goes double for the “let’s meet at 3ish for coffee” casual-type meetings, because I start worrying about what “3ish” means exactly.
Even if things are completely out of my control (highway completely backed up for the next 200km, jumper on the subway tracks shuts down service, bus driver decided he was going to ignore that particular stop on the route, etc…) I still go into a mild freak-out mode because I’m Going To Be Late.
I think I was the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland in a past life.
Busy signals, voice mail, and red lights. Any of the three will make me look around for a loaded weapon and a victim. (Not really, I keep a loaded weapon handy at all times.)
Walking into the grocery store stresses me out. Maybe it just that stupid people stress me out and there is a higher percentage of stupid people at the store. There is a pretty high percentage of stupid people on the roads around here but driving is not nearly as stressful to me as the damn grocery store.
If I’m walking down the hall and someone is coming my direction, and they don’t move out of the way… I literally don’t know what to do. I’ll sort of start to go one way around them, then change my mind and go the other way, with the result that I look like a crazy person. I’ve gotten better lately, though.
I get really stupid all of a sudden. Like I don’t know where I am, I have no sense of direction, and have to ask them idiotic questions like “I turn here, right?” even though if I were alone in the car I would be totally confident as to where I’m going.
I don’t know why this happens, but all of my friends think I’m a moron, I’m pretty sure, for needing directions on a route I take frequently.
I’m also weirded out by talking on the phone to anyone I don’t know. My voice gets much higher than it actually is, and I say nonsensical things I would never normally say in person. Cue the nervous laughter.
I bartend for a living and in person I have no problem at all talking to strangers. Put me on the phone with them and I turn into a social phobic.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s weirded out by ordinary things.
I have hearing issues so I absolutely hate the phone. I hate asking “Pardon?” over and over again because I feel like I am annoying whoever is on the other end. Plus I always worry that I am disturbing someone when I make a personal call.
Talking on the phone also stresses me out, although not nearly as much as it used to. I also get stressed out leaving the apartment, worrying that I’ve left the water running or something.
I could have written the OP word for word. I’m glad I’m not the only one who stresses over what other drivers think of me.
I would extend it to all driving, though. When I’m driving in the fast lane on the freeway, I go through the same internal dialog. I also frequently imagine that I’m about to get into a horrible car accident and, if I survive, the other person is going to scream at me. I have elaborate day-mares where I accidentally run over someone biking in the street, or if I’m riding with my husband, I envision him getting killed right before my eyes. I really have a lot of anxiety about driving, period.