"Irrational" Anxiety

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Yep, that makes sense. I think you're right in that they are, at best, a temporary solution. It's better to come up with a solution that can be more easily maintained over time.

Similar to you.. I'm very active mentally, but not so much physically. I do walk quickly and get to where I need to go, though. I guess it's a bit of a contrast. I can sit and do "nothing" for hours, but I am still very high strung.

Sounds like classic Aspie pseudo-laziness, doesn't it? Seeming to be resting but not really.

Also with me the planning stage seems broken....I don't often know what's the best use of my time, there's so many things I could be doing but the idea of assigning values to everything I might do just doesn't seem feasible. In desperation I've recently adopted a "just pick something at random and do it" policy, though I still feel a strong reluctance, because I keep suspecting there's something more appropriate to do, and according to the law of averages, there probably is. When I start something, all the other things that aren't getting done will haunt me, and the anxiety takes the edge off my focus, because I know the harm of hyperfocus, it's great for the task in hand but I could walk under a bus while focussing on something else.

I guess walking and cycling get done because it's usually pretty clear what has to be done, when to do it, etc.

another YES

Yes, I constantly have anxiety about social situations. I am constantly in fear of being judged. Anything that I do which is for public viewing makes me nervous. Anything which might possibly be evaluated, causes me problems, even if it is extremely unlikely that anybody will actually care.

I have a formal diagnosis of social phobia / social anxiety. By definition, a phobia is an irrational fear. I do work on it through self inspection, therapy, and medication. The medication helps, but they are not "happy pills'. They just take a bit of the edge off, to make it easier to deal with the issues.

I worry about emails too. I'm always checking my Sent box to make sure I sent it to the right person. It's kind of silly, since at that point, there's not really much you can do about it. I also waste a lot of time re-reading and editing emails because I'm never sure they say what I mean them to.

I always find a serious error in my email, 1 second after I hit "send".

My psychologist has told me that this is a common Aspie trait- to get caught up on things that others may not. I have immense problems with this that affect my life and choices every day.

Recently she told me about the concept of finding "circuit-breakers" (anything that will help me when I'm spiraling into negative and repetitive territory). The first one I'm trying is to think- "I don't have to believe everything that my mind is telling me". I am trying this out at the moment when I feel panicked by something that I logically know is irrational. It is based on the idea that our minds are hardwired to perceive many things as "dangerous" (or at least of concern), but that that alone doesn't make it so.

Yes me too, various levels. I had a bad day today with anxiety. Nobody understands the way I stress at work, I am in charge of a lot of critical systems and for them to stop means business stops. I am pretty good at handling the pressure, but today some negative thoughts got in my head and from there went completely down hill.
I had mini melt downs, crying episodes, had time out at work by going for a drive. Now I am home, it is worse, I feel depressed and I want to cut myself to make sure I feel pain.
The worse part is no-one cares at work except for themselves. I feel used and abused in my skills and there is nothing I can do about it except feel deeply depressed and feel like I'm walking in hell.