On January 1, 2023, I woke up feeling mildly depressed. But there was another unfamiliar accompanying feeling. After going through my repertoire of complicated feelings and emotions, I was able to identify it as fear. Real fear of 2023. Fear of what I want to do, need to do, am expected to do and fear of losing people. 2021-2022 really did a number on that one. What is normal? I went through everything that had happened in my life in…
I feel intensely. It’s not just stress or anxiety but all emotions- joy, anger, hurt, sadness, frustration, irritation et al. There is extensive research on emotion regulation in bipolar and anxiety disorders and there seems to be a connection. People with these disorders tend to be poor at regulating emotions. I have spoken to friends who have mental conditions and they too say they feel intensely. I used to be much worse at regulating emotions than I am today. The…