Having anxiety and an over-active imagination is not a great combination. It means that I sometimes struggle to control the direction of my thoughts, which will leap from one point to another rapidly. This has lead to a change in my behaviours and has caused me to be anxious about seemingly easy, everyday tasks.

Below are my top ten causes of anxiety in my day to day life, which range from seemingly minor issues to those which are more obvious in how they induce anxiety.

  1. Driving; as I am currently learning to drive, driving is possibly one of my biggest causes of anxiety at the moment. I get nervous and anxious before and during my lessons, though there is always a sense of achievement when it is over. My anxiety around driving can be so severe it has led to panic attacks and other physical symptoms, which makes passing my test difficult.
  2. Showering; this is a strange one as i have not come across anyone else who seems to struggle with this. I can lie in bed for at least an hour just willing myself to get up and shower most days. My body feels heavier than normal and I feel an increase in my heart rate when I begin to think about it.
  3. Washing my hair; similar to showering, I find the process of willing myself to wash my hair a difficult one. However, whilst breaking it down into more manageable steps does make things easier, it does not remove the anxiety.
  4. Car crashes; whether I’m a passenger or a driver, I frequently worry about being involved in a car accident. When on the motorway my mind will wander to a wide variety of way in which a crash could occur.
  5. Social events; as explained in my post on social anxiety, I find social events very difficult. Whether this be meeting an old friend for a coffee or going out for dinner.
  6. Not being able to find work; as I have taken a break from work at the moment to improve my mental health, I am becoming increasingly anxious about the fact that I may not be able to find work when the time is right.
  7. Terrorist attacks; when I used to live in London I used to commute to work on the tube and this was always a worry for me daily, it still is as I have friends who live there, and the recent attack in Manchester shows it doesn’t have to be a capital city. I know this may seem ridiculous, as do many of points on this list, but that doesn’t stop me worrying!
  8. Sexual assault; As a pretty defenceless female this is something I worry about, for example when walking home alone in the dark, so it can be fairly common. I worry about people following me and this could be a paranoid feature of my personality.
  9. Using public transport; my anxiety around public transport comes in waves; sometimes I can be spontaneous and have no worries, whereas other days I will simply refuse to use public transport due to anxiety.
  10. That my contact lense will get struck behind my eye; pretty self explanatory.

I wonder if anyone else has a similar list, or any other points they could add?