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Are you afraid of days passing and getting older?

Are you afraid of days passing and getting older?

Are you showing symptoms of anxiety and sadness before your birthday? Or do you think about your life and not feel good? Or would you prefer to ruminate on the past and be preoccupied with the goals you have not achieved, such as marriage and childbearing, without looking at other graces?

You may have time phobia or "chronophobia," meaning a severe fear of time, and can cause anxiety, depression or behaviors, such as counting days.

That phobia is commonly thought to affect prisoners, patients, the elderly, or a general anxiety disorder, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that the majority of older adults do not suffer from anxiety, with some estimates of severe anxiety in older adults ranging from less than 1% to about 5%.

The Cleveland Clinics report also noted that humans developed a fear of the future after quarantine.

Uncertainty

Humans spend a lot of time thinking about what doesn't revolve around them: in the past, in the future, or what won't happen at all, until scientists make sure that the fugue of mind is the default mode of brain action.

But the journal "American Association for the Advancement of Science" (AAAS) published the results of a study entitled "An Unhappy Baffled Mind" by two Harvard researchers. The two researchers designed a technique to record samples of people's thoughts, feelings and recurring behaviors, and collected a quarter of a million samples from 5 thousands of people in 83 countries. The researchers found that people think about what didn't happen as much as they thought about what was happening, which makes them unhappy, preoccupying themselves with tomorrow and missed opportunities rather than being grateful for the current situation.

A Guardian report used a simplified explanation from Kevin Chapman. disorder ", specializing in anxiety disorders and adults and adolescents, for the difference between natural anxiety and anxiety disorder of the future If you feel anxious thinking about your future, that anxiety lasts hours. Your anxiety is normal, but if you have difficulty distracting your mind from thinking about black scenarios, You have a general anxiety disorder, a disorder identified by the National Institute of Mental Health. (NIMH) with 6 months of anxiety, difficulty in controlling it, and damage to aspects of social and professional life.

Are you afraid of days passing and getting older?

Chapman emphasized that from the end of the 1920s until the beginning of the 1930s, the new mature were more exceptionally concerned today than they were before, as a result of their intolerance of uncertainty, and their feeling that their future was becoming more uncertain.

The report also examined indicators of global public anxiety disorder, by age, for 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis. Although the risk of anxiety rises and decreases, the first year after the age of 30 is the typical age when general anxiety disorder with respect to time is manifested, and the age group between 29 and 49 is the most likely to develop public anxiety disorder.

Quarter-life crisis

Anxiety rates are in line with the "quarter-life crisis" experienced by several people aged 20 and 30, as a result of being under pressure to compare with their counterparts.

Another report published by Harvard Business Review illustrated the results of two independent studies that confirmed that today's young people are experiencing a greater psychological crisis than previous generations, with the average age of the depressed falling to the mid-20s, after being between the late 1940s and early 1950s 30 years ago.

The "quarter-life crisis" results from various factors, perhaps starting with an individual's attempts to prove maturity at the age of 20 and 30, while their community sends mixed messages to them, and underestimates their personal or professional achievements, if they do not yet marry or have a child, to remain trapped in the stage of pretending maturity.

That crisis may come as a result of an individual's need to change his or her plan, after facing a crisis that overthrew his or her feelings of stability in a marriage relationship, a stable job or a steady profit.

That process may go on for years, or repeat itself, data analysts in mental health application, Happify, have spotted psychological indicators of about 88 thousand participants, found evidence of a rising quarter-life crisis in their late 20s and early 30s, then high levels of psychological stress during the 1930s and 40s, remaining steady for about 20 years, then falling sharply as retirement approaches.

Are you afraid of days passing and getting older?

How to accept the present?

Feed on positivity: Your grave concern about the potential loss of your years of life may wipe out the joys of passing life, so, you have to adopt a different mentality. Instead of focusing on your age, focus on new discoveries and experiences, and replace ideas like, "You'll show wrinkles as I age" with "I'll continue to learn as I age."

Control your life:

 We can't control time, but you can control factors that help you achieve meaningful goals like your daily schedule.

Live the moment: 

We learned several philosophical trends that happiness lies in living now, so train your mind to "be here now," during times of mindful meditation.

Coping:

 The psychological peace that occurs after a quarter-life crisis is attributed to a skill set, such as: Psychological flexibility, regulating and mitigating our emotions, or discarding them instead of allowing them to dominate, as we set the record straight, believing more in ourselves, recognizing that the feelings that sometimes penetrate our chests are temporary, should not consume us, and even though they are painful, they are a rare opportunity to mature, and perhaps emerge from another person, capable of living happier and more meaningful lives.


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