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Traffic and really, driving now, is a trigger for me as well. Got stuck in Boston traffic in a tunnel for over 45 minutes and just lost it. Hadn't had a panic attack like that in years. And through all those years prior I have driven though many traffic jams and drive 5,000 miles a month for work but that day did it for me. Then the downward spiral as I am now....back into the grip of it for the last two weeks. Last couple weeks I'm constantly looking for ways around any possible traffic jams and as soon as I see brake lights the feelings start. Creeping into other parts of my life easy now too. Turning the switch off is something I'm working on and learning to live with it again. Not sure how it comes back so quick and fast but it does. I feel your pain on the traffic jams.  We will work it out though. No one wants to be in it but if you have to be you mine as well have something to do. Dealing with anxiety with be on my list next time it comes up. 

I didn't know what category this would belong to so I just decided to put it here. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm drowning in self pity, I just need to get this out somewhere. During the school year I had my best friend and we would always hang out, almost every week and we always talked about things. But since summer started things have changed. She never invites me anywhere anymore and she's been hanging out with our other friend recently. She never seems to have time for me, only for our other friend. For instance one time I asked her to hangout one day and she said she couldn't, so I asked our other friend to hangout that same day and she said she felt sick. Then I found out that they both had a sleepover and just ditched me. I've tried bringing up how they hurt me, but they don't listen and say I just get angry over everything. They even sometimes message me saying things that will purposely make me jealous and then they say they're just kidding and I don't need to be mad. But when I'm like "what did you expect when you're saying things like that?" They just tell me I'm too gullible and it's my fault.  Then one day I came clean about all of my feelings and I've never done that before because I usually like to hide it, but I poured everything out to them and I did it in a way that was calm and mature. Instead of talking it out with me there respond was they needed a break. But I've always been there for them. Whenever they have a problem I'm the person they go to because I'll listen and give them advice, but the one time I really need them to just listen to me they say they need a break because they can't emotionally handle this right now. It's like they don't even consider that I can't handle these feelings and I needed to tell them.  I know most people would say that I don't need them, they're obviously not being good friends. But I love them and I don't really have anyone else. I just want someone to care and listen and just hold me like I do for them. They're the type of people who everyone loves and everyone fights to be around. Sometimes I just feel like I'm not good enough. I don't have anyone to go to or to cry to. I'm just by myself and I don't know how to handle it. I just want my friends to care like I do for them. 

This is something I've been struggling with a lot recently. I'm facing a lot of difficulties and getting very confused. There are decisions to be made that need to be made sooner rather than later, but I can't recognise what is right and what is wrong under the pressure of anxiety, so I freeze, and I do nothing. Anxiety comes in waves which I can't always control, which I accept. But knowing my state of mind is in flux like this makes it difficult to know when I can trust my own decisions and my own feelings. One minute one option seems completely rational. The next minute the other seems completely rational. One minute I'm calm, the next I'm anxious. What is constant? Anxiety is essentially a physical state, but therefore so is calmness. If my feelings and decisions both depend on my physical state, how can I really know what is right? What appears true when I'm anxious may be false, but I fear that by the same token what appears true when I'm calm could equally be false. What is right must be what is constant regardless of physical state, but I feel like I can no longer see what is constant. If my physical state is confused, how do I recognise what is constant?

Amazing post. This needs some kind of award! Like you say, anxiety has its moments when it will be there and there's nothing we can do about it. One CBT technique is 'worry time'. A dedicated time of the day for worry. If you have worry time when you are in an anxious state, you can let the anxiety take over, have its moment, and move on. But interestingly if you do worry time when you're not anxious, it's really hard to worry! It's proof of what you said: anxiety has times when it's there and when it's not there, which in itself is a reminder that anxiety is just a physical thing and that our problems are not always as bad we think they are.

Hello,  thank you for welcoming me. Yeah it is hugely exhausting and just constantly shattering. Thank you, that is very good to hear that. That is all very true. Thank you for being kind