When you move somewhere for a set amount of time it’s typical to have a strong desire to explore the area constantly. We’ve only got 13 months in Germany so of course we want to make the most of it. At the same time, I have some intense anxiety issues that hold me back from making this experience all that it can be. In the first few weeks that we lived here I kept thinking that this opportunity should have […]
Category: Anxiety
Anxiety at the Grocery Store.
Recently Germans celebrated the 25th German Unity Day, which is a day chosen to commemorate the Berlin wall coming down and the reunification of Germany. There are a lot of holidays in this country and we enjoy learning about the history behind each one. This holiday fell on a Saturday, which meant all the stores would be closed that day in addition to normally being closed on Sunday. We realized this shortly before the weekend, so we went out in […]
Misconceptions About Agoraphobia.
Did you know that Paula Deen suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia for two decades? Since she had such difficulties leaving home, she spent a lot of time cooking southern food for her family. The kitchen was a safe place for her and focusing on meals helped her to alleviate feelings of panic. Paula grew up in a time when this disorder was not well understood and she suffered for it – she was even called a brat by her […]
13 Ways You Can Battle Agoraphobia.
I’ve always been a bit reluctant about having to run errands, but this year I reached a place where my inability to leave home was creating serious problems in my life. I was a bit stunned to find myself talking to my therapist, the one I had sought out for grief counseling, about this new phrase I had learned: agoraphobia. I shared about it on the blog for the first time recently. My husband and I tried (with little success) […]
Trying to Move When You Have Anxiety.
Our week leading up to the big move was a stressful one. We weren’t just moving our things from one location to another – most of them were heading into storage for more than a year. Only 140 lbs. of our belongings were shipped to Germany, and most of that was clothing. I felt like I was splurging when I chose to ship my favorite fruit bowl, coffee cup, and nice paring knives. This is supposed to be our year of […]