Anxiety around certain times of the year

[LolaBlack]

Hey,
I still live at home, and a couple of years ago my brother got really ill on Easter day. I didn't see anything, but the memory of the tension and the horrible situation still makes me feel anxious. A few days after, I came down with the same virus (the dreaded N__). I remember it extremely vividly, especially those terrifying couple of hours before I got ill, but suspected I was. Every time I think of Easter this year I feel so scared I don't know what to do. Last year I spent the evening the same way; so scared I didn't want to move. If I mention any of this to my family, they act like I'm just being silly and it really doesn't help.

Does anyone have any advice for either just dealing with the anxiety, or dissociating Easter from this memory?

Thank you!

[megselina]

their is always behavioural conditioning where everytime you think of Easter you then think of a good thing something that makes you happy which managed to work for me but also with your anxiety try and remember that it can't happen twice an it didn't happen last year and stay calm, breath, don't over eat and sip water I hope you have an amazing Easter and that this horrible fear doesn't plague your mind too much x

[staystrongxx]

I do this with Easter and Christmas as well. I hate it. But just know that just because it happened on a certain date DOES NOT mean it will happen again on the same date. That's emet talking.

[sunshineray7]

I am exactly the same about Easter. My eldest son had rotavirus on Good Friday when he was only 10 months old, it was horrendous and I caught it from him too. He's almost 6 and the memory still haunts me.

[LolaBlack]

Thank you! It's weird because it's almost subconscious: I'll feel tired or slightly full; even just not hungry and I get stuck in a panic that I don't think I would at other times of the year.

[sunshineray7]

Sometimes our brains are a total pain in the back side....would be so nice to have an off switch sometimes!