Ahhh what a great reminder! Thank you for sending this one out.
I sometimes make myself promise someone close to me, that I won’t Google my current symptom or issue.
This piece also reminds me to make positive contributions to the recovery of my fellow anxious folk. It’s also important to remember that people like us, who can tend to feel sensitised or anxious, also have complimentary qualities that others may not. We are generally more empathetic and understanding, we can be excellent listeners, we make for wonderful close relationships because we are able to be vulnerable and allow others to be vulnerable without judgement. I truly believe what we often see as our ‘curse’, can be a blessing.
Another rock solid post, it’s often the simple lessons which need the most reinforcement lol. Closely linked to this and something for memory Drew’s touched on in other episodes is celebrity endorsements. They seem to hold extra power esp. for a fragile/desperate anxious person and can pop up on Google or social media even when yr not looking for them, or via friends/contacts. You think they might hold desired solution (sometimes marketed as ‘the’ magic silver bullet), your hopes are raised, inevitably it doesn’t work over the long term, then you feel flattened/even more despairing, and so the cycle repeats with the next new celebrity/esteemed person endorsement product/activity/advice. So I treat Google and social media with great care, routinely monitoring if its use in my life is one of practicality/improvement/uplift/sound advice, and evidenced by deeper personal longer term recovery and confidence, and which is proven only to myself (in my case).
Wise words from experience! Support groups should lend encouragement, growth and motivation. Just like therapy. If it isn’t helping you toward recovery then you need to take a step back and re-evaluate perhaps change tactics. Sometimes we can stay stuck in the negative. I LOVE hearing success stories big or small. I belong to an online support group via weekly zoom meetings and we are so motivating toward each other. Life is doable with anxiety you just have to dig down deep within yourself and move forward. 😊 Love you Big Guy!
So true my first search on anxiety was horrible I think I cried because I read it wasn’t Curable lol until I realized what I was reading lol that everyone has it but people who suffer from a disorder from anxiety can recover 💡 went off and I kept searching for how to recover. Thankfully I came across the anxious truth podcasts while In my search. Yesterday was a huge step in my recovery because I did something I was terrified to do and just doing that and saying whatever is to happen so be it and welp it didn’t happen my fear never came true. gave me true courage to know I can do whatever I want to do. because nothing will happen to me (go crazy) , the only thing I worry is now is because I had someone reach out to me in a group asking if we could basically cheer each other on I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not would this be looking for a safety person?
Everyone needs cheerleaders. Hell, everyone DESERVES cheerleaders! A good test would be to see when the cheerleading happens. Does it happen before the distress or after the distress has faded? Excellent! Does it happen WHILE feeling distress? That's a different story. In my Facebook group we can't stop people from doing this, but we don't facilitate it because in general, left without "supervision" anxious brains will default to soothing and seeking safety so cheerleaders and exposure buddies quickly become "talk me through this bad feeling" people. So is it bad? Not all all, but it can become counterproductive if we're not careful.
Spot on. I am certainly guilty of it. I find it sends me into overthinking. I spent most of the day on fb yesterday trying to gather info in my supplements. Now I realized how many differing opinions are out there. Just need to snooze those for awhile and move on with life. Good reminder for me that it happens across any support group.
The same thing happened to me when I started researching my anxiety, looking for forums etc. Like all 80% negative and some just absolute horror stories 🤦♀️ I still do not remember how, but I found your group & joining was 1 of the best things I've ever done in my life!!!!!
This is a very relevant article! I try to be positive and give people hope on forums of this type just because I realize that indeed there is that negative bias. Maybe we all acknowledging this can always put a little upbeat note in now and then and show the community it isn’t all bad all the time.
There’s such a parallel here to looking up anything medical. If you’ve ever been prescribed an antibiotic, and googled “(name of medicine) reviews”, you know what you get in return. Pages and pages of people who say that taking this medicine was the worst experience of their life. Because nobody gets online to say “I had an infection, the doctor prescribed me these pills, they worked, and I’m fine now.” It’s just all horror stories.
I did the exact same thing with a med that I’m on and now want to get off of. I read horror stories of the withdrawals and trouble getting off the med. i finally decided now is not the time with everything else I’m dealing with and stopped the black hole of google “research”
Did exactly this . Took myself off of face book as I had subscribed to a plethora of anti depressant withdrawals groups , and at the same time , found myself constantly making appointments with the Drs . It’s been a few months since I said good bye to these groups, and at the same time , I haven’t felt the need to keep phoning the Drs , so there is real power to this post . Am I still battling my emotions and anxiety ? Yes , but without the need for constantly trying to find others going through the same or reassurance . I think the main reason I kept searching and joining groups was to prove to myself I wasn’t alone or weird or something , but it truly heightened my fear and anxieties
Ahhh what a great reminder! Thank you for sending this one out.
I sometimes make myself promise someone close to me, that I won’t Google my current symptom or issue.
This piece also reminds me to make positive contributions to the recovery of my fellow anxious folk. It’s also important to remember that people like us, who can tend to feel sensitised or anxious, also have complimentary qualities that others may not. We are generally more empathetic and understanding, we can be excellent listeners, we make for wonderful close relationships because we are able to be vulnerable and allow others to be vulnerable without judgement. I truly believe what we often see as our ‘curse’, can be a blessing.
Thanks again!
Another rock solid post, it’s often the simple lessons which need the most reinforcement lol. Closely linked to this and something for memory Drew’s touched on in other episodes is celebrity endorsements. They seem to hold extra power esp. for a fragile/desperate anxious person and can pop up on Google or social media even when yr not looking for them, or via friends/contacts. You think they might hold desired solution (sometimes marketed as ‘the’ magic silver bullet), your hopes are raised, inevitably it doesn’t work over the long term, then you feel flattened/even more despairing, and so the cycle repeats with the next new celebrity/esteemed person endorsement product/activity/advice. So I treat Google and social media with great care, routinely monitoring if its use in my life is one of practicality/improvement/uplift/sound advice, and evidenced by deeper personal longer term recovery and confidence, and which is proven only to myself (in my case).
An excellent post today.
Wise words from experience! Support groups should lend encouragement, growth and motivation. Just like therapy. If it isn’t helping you toward recovery then you need to take a step back and re-evaluate perhaps change tactics. Sometimes we can stay stuck in the negative. I LOVE hearing success stories big or small. I belong to an online support group via weekly zoom meetings and we are so motivating toward each other. Life is doable with anxiety you just have to dig down deep within yourself and move forward. 😊 Love you Big Guy!
So true my first search on anxiety was horrible I think I cried because I read it wasn’t Curable lol until I realized what I was reading lol that everyone has it but people who suffer from a disorder from anxiety can recover 💡 went off and I kept searching for how to recover. Thankfully I came across the anxious truth podcasts while In my search. Yesterday was a huge step in my recovery because I did something I was terrified to do and just doing that and saying whatever is to happen so be it and welp it didn’t happen my fear never came true. gave me true courage to know I can do whatever I want to do. because nothing will happen to me (go crazy) , the only thing I worry is now is because I had someone reach out to me in a group asking if we could basically cheer each other on I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not would this be looking for a safety person?
Everyone needs cheerleaders. Hell, everyone DESERVES cheerleaders! A good test would be to see when the cheerleading happens. Does it happen before the distress or after the distress has faded? Excellent! Does it happen WHILE feeling distress? That's a different story. In my Facebook group we can't stop people from doing this, but we don't facilitate it because in general, left without "supervision" anxious brains will default to soothing and seeking safety so cheerleaders and exposure buddies quickly become "talk me through this bad feeling" people. So is it bad? Not all all, but it can become counterproductive if we're not careful.
Spot on. I am certainly guilty of it. I find it sends me into overthinking. I spent most of the day on fb yesterday trying to gather info in my supplements. Now I realized how many differing opinions are out there. Just need to snooze those for awhile and move on with life. Good reminder for me that it happens across any support group.
Absolutely right Drew! And agreed with all the comments above.
Why people don’t say “ I fell this ( validate emotion) … but I will or I’m trying to work it out this way…( reframe)
Exactly the way you do it!!! ✨
Ps
By the way: yesterday had a feet massage. I felt amazing I completely forgot about anything disturbing ( it lasted all day 😊😘
The same thing happened to me when I started researching my anxiety, looking for forums etc. Like all 80% negative and some just absolute horror stories 🤦♀️ I still do not remember how, but I found your group & joining was 1 of the best things I've ever done in my life!!!!!
This is a very relevant article! I try to be positive and give people hope on forums of this type just because I realize that indeed there is that negative bias. Maybe we all acknowledging this can always put a little upbeat note in now and then and show the community it isn’t all bad all the time.
There’s such a parallel here to looking up anything medical. If you’ve ever been prescribed an antibiotic, and googled “(name of medicine) reviews”, you know what you get in return. Pages and pages of people who say that taking this medicine was the worst experience of their life. Because nobody gets online to say “I had an infection, the doctor prescribed me these pills, they worked, and I’m fine now.” It’s just all horror stories.
I did the exact same thing with a med that I’m on and now want to get off of. I read horror stories of the withdrawals and trouble getting off the med. i finally decided now is not the time with everything else I’m dealing with and stopped the black hole of google “research”
Great lesson today with this Drew.
So true Drew. Also true of beware what you watch on the TV or films. Thanks again Drew
Another really great piece. Thank you.
Did exactly this . Took myself off of face book as I had subscribed to a plethora of anti depressant withdrawals groups , and at the same time , found myself constantly making appointments with the Drs . It’s been a few months since I said good bye to these groups, and at the same time , I haven’t felt the need to keep phoning the Drs , so there is real power to this post . Am I still battling my emotions and anxiety ? Yes , but without the need for constantly trying to find others going through the same or reassurance . I think the main reason I kept searching and joining groups was to prove to myself I wasn’t alone or weird or something , but it truly heightened my fear and anxieties
Good for you! I think a lot of us have gone through that exact thing— looking for “support” online and realizing it made us feel so much despair.
Thanks Colin for your honesty.