My fear is taking over my life

As I have said in my other post I was sexually harassed by a man Dec of 2009 and ever sense then I have this fear of men that I don't know, I have high anxiety and I have panic attacks. I fear that it might happen again or I fear that something worse might happen. I just feel like the fear is taking over my life. I can't even go anywhere without having anxiety or a panic attack. I don't do somethings I enjoy to do or things I want to do cuz of my fear of men. I just don't know what to do how do I get the control back how do I get over this fear and move on. It's been a little over a year of when it happened and I really don't see or feel or think my fear is getting any better, I just wish it was easy but of course it's not. I am just so frustrated with myself I just don't want my fear of men take over my life, I want to get over this fear at least a little bit and I want the control back and be able to manage it more. Any suggestions/tips/advice. Also I am wondering besides taking medicine what are things you do when you are experiencing anxiety or panic attacks to help you calm down?

(Please do not tell me that life is too short to sweat the small stuff or anything similar to that, I don't find it helpful and I actually find it rude, hurtful, and upsetting when people say that to me I feel that it minimizes and devalues my feelings and the problem/issue itself, you need to work through your feelings and the problem/issue that is important cuz yours/my feelings are very real and should never be minimized or devalued by anyone, I hope I don't sound mean and I hope it makes sense and that you can understand.)

Princess

Hi Princess, I am so sorry that you are going through this, though I do understand what it is like to experience severe anxiety and panic attacks. What works for me is deep breathing exercises and calming myself psychologically; essentially thinking happy thoughts. I know that it may sound silly, but it really works. First, I focus on the deep breathing (taking a deep breath in, holding it for a moment, and then exhaling), I repeat this until I've totally calmed down. Also, going for a walk in the fresh air and doing deep breathing exercises helps a ton. Lastly, exercise always gets my anxiety down and actually precludes it from coming on most days. I hope this helps a bit. I can go into further detail if you would like.

I also found this Site to be incredibly helpful; http://www.livingwithanxiety.com/

Thank you for sharing that sight. It is very informative!

Hello Princess~
I am so sorry to hear what you have gone through and how it is affecting your every day life.
I do have one suggestion. I know it helps me a little.
I have very high anxiety and masive stress, so I write.
I have two journals.
One for just writing my every day stuff and one to write in when I am freaking out or having a bad moment! I write in it when I am angry, upset, stressed, scared, etc... The more I write the more things become clear in my head... I have anxiety attacks myself and I have a hard time going out of my house. For different reasons than u. I hope that u try this and I hope I helped a little bit. This put together with puppydoglvr's could help you hun.
you can talk to me any time. I am here for you. I hope you are doing OK.

Puppydoglvr, thank you so much for sharing what works and helps you, I will definitely be trying all of them, and thank you so much for the website I will definitely be checking the website out. Something I tried today is laughing yoga and they have certain activities/exercise you, you do some deep breathing and clapping and cheering and laughing for no reason and I did feel happier afterwards. And I love to laugh. I did feel a little silly but I liked it, I will definitely be going again. Thanks again! I appreciate it.

Yoga! That is a great idea! It sounds fun.
My hubby was killed in a motorcycle accadent in August 2010. I am not dealing with it well.
I never thought of Yoga! I bet that would help with my anxiety and depression. I will check into that. Thanks!

Nik, thank you for sharing what helps you and for your suggestion I do journal sometimes but only when I have had a really tough day or a really happy, for me I have to journal about something inpaticular that happened that day and what my feelings were that day I have to read and talk about the journal with someone, then journaling helps. Thanks again so much I really do appreciate it and you can talk to me any time as well I am here for you as well.

Oh ok good ;O)
I am kinda the same way. I bring my journal to my counciler and we go over stuff. So i can see what you r saying.
Thamk u hun <3
We need to keep in touch on here.

Nik I am so sorry that about your husband. I sympathize with you and my heart goes out to you. I am always here and feel free to message me if you need to or want to talk. Yes we do need to keep in touch on here.

I am glad you can see what I am saying and yah I just find it helpful to bring my journaling to my counselor and talk about it. And you are so welcome, and I think you should check into laughing yoga or regular yoga, it was fun and it's very healthy and you really do feel better after. Hope your day is going well.

You are so sweet. I am looking into laughing Yoga right now!

Hey princess,
I don't have a panic problem, but I do feel panic every once in a while, it happens to all people. I am usually able to stay calm outside, while inside it is like a whirlwind.
What helps me best in those situations is to focus my eyes on firm things, if possible physically holding these things with my hands or sitting on them. These can be: big buildings, big trees, big firm walls, clouds in the sky (if they are still), strong furniture, a firm seat or something else that is firm that I can sit on, ... Beautiful and protected things work too: kids that are playing happily supervised by an adult, a beautiful picture or plant or an animal, ... All these things help me to feel safer, they will not just disappear or be destroyed or hurt and if I hold on to them then I will probably stay safe myself.
What helps best is someone I trust. I hold on to them or stay near them and then if possible talk with them about my panic and possibly cry to let out the tension. If these people are not around and I feel no longer under direct threat, I think of people I trust a lot and then I cry alone (and find someone to talk to later).
Meanwhile, I try to evaluate how real and how urgent the threat is. In the beginning this is harder, often I don't even know at first just what I am afraid of, but later on it becomes more and more easy.
Bye
y

Thank you yearning for sharing what you do. I will try that and see if it helps.

Nik, thank you, you are very sweet yourself, and I requested to be your friend. That awesome that you are looking into laughing yoga.

Hi,

It sounds like that you went through a type of stalking from this man?

When I was young and had rented my first apartment, something similar happened to me. The apartment that I was renting was in a 4-plex, so there were only 4 units in the building. Next door was a parking lot that went to a restaurant. In the evenings, I would park my convertible Volkswagon in a far corner of their parking lot.

Having lived in the apartment building for over a year, I got to know all of my neighbors fairly well and they were made up of an older married couple, a younger couple with a baby and a senior citizen, a sweet little old man.

Out of the blue one day, I go out to get into my car to go to work and there was a long stemmed red rose lying on the ground by my driverside door. There was no note, no nothing. I didn't know who would have left it for me. I wasn't dating anyone or had a boyfriend.

Then it went from one rose to like six or seven roses. Still I had no idea of who would be leaving them. At first, I said to myself, this is kind of cool, that I have a secret admirer.

Then one day I went out to get in my car to go to work and there was two large trays of womens jewelry neatly placed under the side of my car. I pulled them out and there was all kinds of expensive and in-expensive womens jewelry in the trays. There were a few rings and some 14k gold items.

It was obvious, that the person who had been leaving the roses had burglarized someone elses' home and had stolen the two trays of jewelry. I didn't know what to do. If I called the police to turn in the jewelry, I was afraid of what this person might do to me. Would he try to hurt me or vandalize my car for calling the police and for rejecting his gifts? He also knew what apartment I lived in. I thought of moving but at the time, I didn't have the money to move to another apartment.

So, I know somewhat of what you're feeling. You feel scared all of the time, because you don't really know what you did to trigger this persons behavior. You probably didn't do anything to cause it, because it's their fantasy, it's their perceptions and how they see you. They develop ideas about the kind of person you are, which would be their fantasy woman, and then they convince themselves that you feel the same as they do.

Later I began receiving phone calls in the middle of the night like once a month. Never on the same day of the month. It was a male voice and it sounded demonic. I would just hang up. After about the 5th time it happened, I got my phone number changed and the calls stopped.

I went through so much fear and anxiety. I didn't want anything to do with this person, whomever he was. I didn't even know what he looked like!

It got to the point to where I was literaly running to my car in the morning and at night to get in it and drive away as quickly as possible. I constantly watched my review mirror to see if anyone was following me. I was always looking around to see if some weird looking guy was staring at me wherever I went, thinking 'is that him!!'?

It was all very un-nerving to feel like I was constantly being watched wherever I went.

I developed severe anxiety and constantly checked to see if all of my windows and doors were locked when I was at home. It's a horrible feeling to feel that your every move is being watched, as if you're a specimen in a zoo.

I also knew that this guy had already burglarized one home (because he had stolen the two trays of women's jewelry) and that he could just as easily break into my apartment to see how I live. Or had he already?

Well, I ended up moving out of that apartment soon after. It was just as well, because I was too scared to live there anymore. What this person did over a period of about a year caused me to feel unsafe even to this day.

That person took away my sense of security. He caused me to feel as though he could get at me at any time he wanted and do whatever he felt like doing, maybe rape and kill me?

I didn't want his affections! I didn't know how he came to attach himself to me? I thought that what he was doing was terrible. And I didn't want any of the stolen jewelry that he had left tucked under my car. I sat it away from my car in the parking lot and just drove away. When I came home that evening, the two trays were gone. I don't know if he had came back and took them or if someone walking by took them?

I didn't care! I just wanted this person to leave me alone!

Because of what he did, I felt that I had no control over what could happen to me. It was very scary! I felt very scared all of the time.

So eventually I moved.

I'm sorry that you're going through all of this. It is just so horrible to have to be in that kind of a situation.

Best regards,

S.O.C.

you should talk to a psychologist/counselor. maybe you need some medication to help you mentally deal with this.

princess

there u go hon u are amazing as i know u can be look at how u are responding to people and how much u are a vital part of the group

so i guess its just left for me to say well done hon im so proud of u

love D :)

A trusted friend. Preferably older and more experienced in life and loving, patient and quiet when need be. I know, where is that person? For me my best friend is 64 I am 41. If it was not for him and his love to me. I would be institutionalized or dead by now. He is more of a father to me than my real father ever was.

I found this friend in a support group for sexual addiction. I no longer struggle with the sexual addiction part as far as acting out with porn. I still struggle in my mind and my wondering eyes but I am a lot better than before.

I would suggest finding a support group for others like yourself and then out of that hopefully you can find a friend that would be willing to have breakfast or dinner once a week. My friend and I have been meeting once a week(usually) for the last 6 yrs. I have come to love him in a way I never thought I could love the same sex. It reminds me of the verse in the Bible where the apostle John laid his head on the breast of Jesus. They were that close. I pray that someone will come along in your life that you can trust with your deepest pain and will listen and not judge and love you through it....Steve

Princess....Have you seen a Doctor? You had a traumatic experience and the fear owns you. There is a possibility that you are suffering from PTSD. Therapy is helpful. You will feel safer if you understand why you are living with fear and anxiety. Please get help. It's time for you to have a ray of sunshine...

princess, i had no idea, why didn't you tell me? this explain a lot. i am sooo sorry this happened to you. i just found this thread and read most of it all. and i am astonished that this may be the root cause of your troubles. this is no small thing and i would never say don't sweat the small stuff around this. breathing is good, puppy had a great idea about how to do it. how are you doing around this issue today? prayers from your prayer warrior

Stanisz, I am doing better with this I have been going to places and not having as much anxiety or panic attacks the only thing that brings me anxiety and panic attacks is when I am somowhere and a guy comes and sits by me. Cuz the man that did it was sitting by me. I actually found out a couple of months ago that he actually sexually assaulted me cuz he actually touch me sexually. My self esteem always have been very low but it decreased even more after this happend.

Sometimes I have been feeling like what do I have to complain about this just happened once there is people in this world that have been raped many times so I haven't been talking about it that much.