Dear Teen,
I can really relate to your feelings of dread in the early hours of the morning…
You will be surprised to hear this was one of the reasons I decided to become a therapist.
I thought “there must be a better way to wake in the morning“. I also used to suffer with the feelings of dread in the mornings too.
I love how you explain how your muscles tense, and also how your breathe becomes fast, shallow and you feel like you are chocking. The description you give, I can get a clear picture as how your anxiety effects you physically and mentally.
You also talk about your brain being hijacked, thoughts racing all over the place, thinking thoughts that do not feel good to think, especially at 4:20am.
So, lets start by me answering your question “Why am I always filled with dread early in the mornings?“…
In psychology we call it Negativity Bias. So, why do we wake with the feelings of dread in the early hours?
You will be surprised to hear that it is because you are smart! You are a product of your ancestors who, when faced with a life threatening situations they had to make intelligent decisions in high risk situations which in turn, increased the likelihood of their survival long enough to pass on through their genes.
The chilled out people were eaten by the wild animals!
So, what does this mean for you?
It means that it is natural to feel anxious in the morning. This is because our cavemen ancestors would have had to go out hunting as soon as he/she woke to gather food. The minute it was sunrise the danger was everywhere.
It may have served our ancestors to focus on the negative, however in our modern age we are not helped by finding threat first thing in the morning.
Now that you know what it is you can implement a simple calming technique.
Keep Repeating ” This is the negativity bias. It will pass in 20 minutes”.
Feelings are temporary and do not last, even if this takes a little time to master, the moment will pass and you will overcome this.
Love & Laughter,
Lesley.
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