@anxiety_fitness
Anxiety FitnessDPDR made me afraid of change. Any change to my routine felt threatening. Leaving the house felt weird. Driving felt unreal. Sometimes even leaving my room felt wrong, like I wasn’t fully “there.” I’ve had DPDR since childhood, so I learned early to stick to what felt safe. If there was an unusual family outing, a school event, or anything out of routine, the DPDR would spike hard. Shops and supermarkets were especially bad, bright lights, movement, noise, people. Everything felt intensified and unreal. I felt fake. Detached. And terrified that if I pushed myself, I’d somehow make it worse or “break” my brain permanently. So I avoided. But here’s the thing I eventually realised: I felt DPDR anyway. Whether I stayed in my room or went outside… Whether I avoided or engaged… The feeling was still there. And DPDR can’t hurt you. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. It doesn’t mean you’re going crazy. Avoiding the feeling was actually teaching my brain that it was dangerous, that it needed to be feared. The shift came when I stopped waiting to feel “normal” before living my life. I started doing things while feeling DPDR. Going to the shop even when it felt unreal. Showing up even when I felt disconnected. Living alongside the sensation instead of organising my entire life around escaping it. That’s how the moments of relief came. Not all at once, sometimes just a few seconds where I forgot to check how I felt. Then minutes. Then longer. Over time, those moments became more frequent… Until they became the norm. DPDR faded not because I fought it, but because I stopped letting it decide how small my life had to be. If you’re dealing with DPDR right now: You’re not broken. You’re not stuck like this forever. And you don’t need to wait for the feeling to disappear before you start living again.
On the profile · Dec 22, 2025