August 12, 2004

Freaky Deaky

Let’s talk about stress reactions, shall we? Now, I do just fine with work stress – I actually function a lot better at work if I am under piles and piles of stress and have 18 things to do at once. But stress in real life? Not so good for me. My first reaction to real life stress is to freak out about something totally unrelated to whatever is bothering me. As a totally made-up example, say I’m worried about buying groceries. Once I get good and hysterical about the grocery issue, I will grab the nearest person and have a total hissy fit about mowing the lawn. What’s that? Buying groceries and mowing the lawn have nothing to do with each other? Exactly. This drives me crazy (and ok, is probably not too endearing to others) but I do it every single time. Even knowing that I’m obsessing on the wrong thing doesn’t help, I just keep right on going.

Does anybody else do this, or am I just insane?

Posted by Beth at August 12, 2004 11:16 AM
Comments

It's not just you. With the moving and the wedding, I get worried about money. Instead of talking about that, I yell at Tom for not being able to load a dishwasher properly. So he fixes the dishwasher and can't figure out why I'm still a tweaker. Sigh...

Posted by: Hudson at August 12, 2004 11:21 AM

you are most certainly not alone.

Posted by: laura at August 12, 2004 11:33 AM

It's called projection, and it's a perfectly normal response to stress! That's why there's a psychological-mumbo-jumbo term for it!

Posted by: Beth at August 12, 2004 11:44 AM

Oh lord I do it too.
And I don't even know it most of the time.
Worried about moving in with my boyfriend? So I totally reamed him over his choice in BREAD!
BREAD! To the point that I stomped all over a bag of it on moving day.
This actually happened. AND HE STILL MOVED IN WITH ME.
And yes...this totally means insanity

Posted by: Pamalamadingdong at August 12, 2004 11:52 AM

True Story:

Last night? I was stressing about my upcoming dental bill of 3000 dollars and what did I do? Freaked out on my husband for not wanting to eat inside the fast food place we were picking up dinner from. Because that makes sense.

So yeah- I do that. Every Day. Maybe MrZoot and MrBeth (hehehe) need to commiserate on that sometime.

Posted by: Zoot at August 12, 2004 12:16 PM

What fun would it be if everyone was rational? A little insanity is like salt on tortilla chips. It gives it that extra kick.

Posted by: Karen at August 12, 2004 12:28 PM

well since this seems to becoming a freak out support group...Hi! My name is Casey (this is where ya'll chime in with Hi! Cassey!) and I freak out about stuff that has nothing to do with what I'm really upset about....so no you aren't really crazy...just about as crazy as the rest of us :)

Posted by: Casey at August 12, 2004 02:59 PM

I do the same thing - it's the way that I try to avoid the thing that is stressing me out. Usually, I come around and deal with the thing that is stressing me out or I get lucky and what is causing me stress just goes away.

Posted by: Irene at August 12, 2004 03:49 PM

Oh, all the time. All. The. Time.

Just ask Ken, who I constantly get pissy with for not calling me back Right Away or sounding like he misses me that much when I talk to him on the phone. When really I'm just stressed about that whole moving Thang. (OK, those ARE related, kind of? But it's the same thing.)

Posted by: Dawnie at August 12, 2004 03:51 PM

oh yeah, I totally do it, but I don't think I REALIZE that I do it until a big fight escalates and it comes out that I'm really upset over something completely different.
it's nice to know we have company, though, isn't it?

Posted by: samantha at August 12, 2004 11:24 PM

I'm with Samantha, yeah I do it, I KNOW I do it, but I don't think I ever realize it til' it blows up. Been trying to work on that - realizing it a little sooner :) and not letting it escalate into something that has nothing to do with the real issue.

Posted by: Pink Sun Drops at August 15, 2004 12:06 AM