Anxiety's gonna be the death of me!

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I'm so pissed of with myself, i'm fed up with this crippling anxiety, especially when i'm playing sport. I played a golf competition today, and every shot I stood over I felt like hell. Its really not worth the bother, I wanna beat this though. I set myself high standards, cause I know I can reach them. I can't do anything with this on my back though, I just try too hard. I got so annoyed with myself for not commiting to what I was doing today, I felt like I nearly had a stroke, I done well not to smash my clubs up like i've done in the past. I have a big competition next weekend, if I play like I did today next week, I might as well stay in bed! Its the same with my tennis too, i'm really starting to get good, but every shot I hit is filled with anxiety. I could be so much better at everything, I just need a clear mind, then i'll stop beating myself up. I want valium, or something else that makes me not care. The medication i'm on and the one I tried last time do next to nothing

You're feeling the pressure of Perfectionism. I've had the same problem. Meds won't help, at least not that I've ever heard of.

That happened to me a few times too. Not so much with sports as with other stuff. With sports it was jsut perfectionism for me too. It's like you have control over it but you don't; it's so confusing, I hate it!

Concentrating on just doing well, enjoying the moment. I used to perform as a clown, and I was no fun to perform with, as I wanted to rehearse and rehearse and have every movement perfect. It can lead to greatness, Charlie Chaplin was a perfectionist, as was Stanley Kubrick. But for most of us it just ruins the whole day. You have to give yourself permission to fail. Permission to do less than perfect. Even if it's a Tournament, appreciate the moment, and understand that there's always someone blessed with a lot of talent who will invariably show up just to beat you.

(By the way, as a clarification. Golf is not a Sport, its a very expensive pastime. Rugby is a Sport. Formula One is a Sport. But not Golf.)

I also have that problem of setting my standards too high. In my case it's never been easy. I think that's what's been holding me back with a lot of things. There's some things that I enjoy doing now that I use to worry about. I think ppl from my support group helped me feel that I wasn't alone.

In my experience, meds do help as long as they're non-addictive and work for you. But like Prof_Pretorius, it alone won't solve it. In combination with my meds, I've had to work on cognitive therapy, the way I look at things. ppl in my support group have helped me with this.

I wish you well. I know anxiety's a pain in the a** espeacially when ppl don't understand. The problem with valium is your body can get use to it. I would see a doctor for this, they're pretty good when it comes to that kind of stuff. Sometimes it takes a while to see which meds work and which ones don't, but personally it's worth it. As before, remember that meds alone won't change this. It's just a start. Don't let this get to you. People who don't fail have never tried. Good luck.

I've tried, but i'm set in my ways, I know all this, if it was that simple i'd be ok. Its just who I am, its set in deep. I would never accept there is someone who's gonna show up and beat me, EVER! I want to win, I won 3 competitions last year and played well, i'm going through a bad stage at the moment, that makes the anxiety worse. Seriously, golf is a sport, tell Tiger Woods that it isn't! I don't wanna get into that argument, i'm angry enough as it is.


Miss C- i've been waiting for cognotive therapy for months, I don't care about drugs being addictive, i've gone beyond caring about that, sport is my life, its all i'm good at. I wasn't like this as a kid, its the drugs I think that have made me paranoid and anxious, but that was a long time ago now. The health system is useless in this country it seems, it was nearly 2 years since I first went to the doctor to see what was wrong with me, all I have is a diagnosis, I was derpressed for like 4 years before that, i'm fed up of this now!

does the anxiety affect your game? like do you shake while trying to make a play? anxiety is killer dude. for me its a mild form of schizophrenia. totally debilitating i used to do breathing exercises and suprisingly that helped alot. goodluck

anxiety sucks...that's for sure.
but i know you can get past it...and i know it will be hard. but you can.
you will be fine for your competition next week...we'll make sure of that.
meds may or may not be the answer...i don't know.
but you need to start to understand that you can't always have everything perfect...there will be times when things don't go exactly as you want them. if it means that you won't play the perfect game, then don't...just play the best game you can at the moment. it doesn't always have to be perfect!
play because you love to play, not because you have to.

Definitely think you guys are onto something with the perfectionist thing...I had actually never thought about that before but it makes sense. I seem to have my worst freakouts when I'm under pressure to be a certain way. Like last week at church I went with my fiance and his sister....they did a hand-shaking thing and I completely wigged out. It was soooo embarrassing! But yes...I can totally relate. The drugs do little else but make me sleepy...

I completey understand. Somedays I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. I stuff it inside though and blow up randomly. It sucks.
I have to be perfect, otherwise I'm a loser. I had a full on meltdown because of a bad mark on a science test.

I used to be like this when I was younger. I played in my first tennis tourney back in 6th grade. I was to play singles. I figured I would lose as it was my first tourney, but I thought I'd atleast put up a decent fight. Short version is, my ass was handed to me in 10 minutes. I broke out in tears, but while in this state of devestation, I guess something snapped. I stopped caring how well I did; I still did my best, but I stopped caring about the result. Later on, my coach said I had shown great improvement since that tourny.

Anyhoo, I can only hope this helps. Don't give up, hang in there. Its all any of us can ever do.