A Common Pagan's Crisis of Faith

[Bohemian Oz]

Calixti

maenad nuri

Collowrath

This. ^

Caffeine is also a pretty well known agitator for anxiety disorders.

Also calming for me. ADHD RULES!

What if you've got both? crying

That's a good question. But if one had both, I would check for bi-polar disorder while I were at it.  

[Bastemhet]

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?  

[Bohemian Oz]

Bastemhet

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?

The basis of my topic is that I'm questioning my own faith in comparison to Christianity lately. One of the reasons why is because my two best friends, who introduced me to Wicca and Paganism, converted to Christianity. One of which did because she was detoxing off of drugs and had a vision of some sort. Eversince then, she's been talking about how Christianity saved her life.
Because of this I'm suffering from night syndrome among other things. But I'm also questioning my own thoughts because I have anxiety issues anyway.

So. I thought maybe talking about my issues on here would help me. Because I'm afraid to talk to my friends about the situation right now.  

[Synnthetika]

Bohemian Oz

Bastemhet

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?

The basis of my topic is that I'm questioning my own faith in comparison to Christianity lately. One of the reasons why is because my two best friends, who introduced me to Wicca and Paganism, converted to Christianity. One of which did because she was detoxing off of drugs and had a vision of some sort. Eversince then, she's been talking about how Christianity saved her life.
Because of this I'm suffering from night syndrome among other things. But I'm also questioning my own thoughts because I have anxiety issues anyway.

So. I thought maybe talking about my issues on here would help me. Because I'm afraid to talk to my friends about the situation right now.

I think it would be wise to seek help for your medical troubles first. If your anxiety is making you doubt yourself and/or clogging your mental clarity, it should be addressed. I have a feeling that if you are able to deal with your anxiety, you will be more confident in whatever decision you make.  

[Bohemian Oz]

Synnthetika

Bohemian Oz

Bastemhet

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?

The basis of my topic is that I'm questioning my own faith in comparison to Christianity lately. One of the reasons why is because my two best friends, who introduced me to Wicca and Paganism, converted to Christianity. One of which did because she was detoxing off of drugs and had a vision of some sort. Eversince then, she's been talking about how Christianity saved her life.
Because of this I'm suffering from night syndrome among other things. But I'm also questioning my own thoughts because I have anxiety issues anyway.

So. I thought maybe talking about my issues on here would help me. Because I'm afraid to talk to my friends about the situation right now.

I think it would be wise to seek help for your medical troubles first. If your anxiety is making you doubt yourself and/or clogging your mental clarity, it should be addressed. I have a feeling that if you are able to deal with your anxiety, you will be more confident in whatever decision you make.

Working on that. But I'm broke to see a doctor. So, I'm researching other ways to deal with stuff.  

[Deoridhe]

Bohemian Oz

Bastemhet

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?

The basis of my topic is that I'm questioning my own faith in comparison to Christianity lately. One of the reasons why is because my two best friends, who introduced me to Wicca and Paganism, converted to Christianity. One of which did because she was detoxing off of drugs and had a vision of some sort. Eversince then, she's been talking about how Christianity saved her life.
Because of this I'm suffering from night syndrome among other things. But I'm also questioning my own thoughts because I have anxiety issues anyway.

So. I thought maybe talking about my issues on here would help me. Because I'm afraid to talk to my friends about the situation right now.

Keep in mind that most detox programs, especially in the area you're talking about, will be heavily, heavily Christianized.

This can be a good thing. AA was, in part, inspired by Jung's theory that people use alcohol to ingest Spirit when they cannot get Spirit through a religious experience. It can also be a bad thing, as a lot of forms of Christianity are of the Amway sort, and these proliferate in high-stress, easy-answer-seeking circumstances like detox or prison.

It sounds like a lot of your experiences with being "pagan" were closer to a means of setting yourself out from your surroundings, which is a very common way to find paganism. What might be smart at this point is setting aside all questions of an afterlife and tyring to get a handle on your actual circumstances.

You mentioned feeling as if you hadn't accomplished anything - what would you like to accomplish? Make a list of short term and long term goals which will be satisfying to you and see about starting on one of them.

You mentioned high anxiety - have you tried different systematic relaxation techniques, like meditation? Have you stepped up your exercise and examined your diet? Anxiety is felt in the body as much as it is in the mind and is often fed by physical responses which trigger releases of adrenaline. Remember, the mind and the body are one.

You mentioned depression-like symptoms. Are you trying to spend a half hour or so out in the sun so you can get your melatonin levels up? How about exercise?


Religion is a wonderful thing, when you have a hunger for it, but it is not a substitute for living a life.  

[Bohemian Oz]

Deoridhe

Bohemian Oz

Bastemhet

I read through the whole thing...and I'm still not sure what your question is. I don't know what all that info had to do with the question you asked at the end. Can you please condense it into at most a paragraph?

The basis of my topic is that I'm questioning my own faith in comparison to Christianity lately. One of the reasons why is because my two best friends, who introduced me to Wicca and Paganism, converted to Christianity. One of which did because she was detoxing off of drugs and had a vision of some sort. Eversince then, she's been talking about how Christianity saved her life.
Because of this I'm suffering from night syndrome among other things. But I'm also questioning my own thoughts because I have anxiety issues anyway.

So. I thought maybe talking about my issues on here would help me. Because I'm afraid to talk to my friends about the situation right now.

Keep in mind that most detox programs, especially in the area you're talking about, will be heavily, heavily Christianized.

This can be a good thing. AA was, in part, inspired by Jung's theory that people use alcohol to ingest Spirit when they cannot get Spirit through a religious experience. It can also be a bad thing, as a lot of forms of Christianity are of the Amway sort, and these proliferate in high-stress, easy-answer-seeking circumstances like detox or prison.

It sounds like a lot of your experiences with being "pagan" were closer to a means of setting yourself out from your surroundings, which is a very common way to find paganism. What might be smart at this point is setting aside all questions of an afterlife and tyring to get a handle on your actual circumstances.

You mentioned feeling as if you hadn't accomplished anything - what would you like to accomplish? Make a list of short term and long term goals which will be satisfying to you and see about starting on one of them.

You mentioned high anxiety - have you tried different systematic relaxation techniques, like meditation? Have you stepped up your exercise and examined your diet? Anxiety is felt in the body as much as it is in the mind and is often fed by physical responses which trigger releases of adrenaline. Remember, the mind and the body are one.

You mentioned depression-like symptoms. Are you trying to spend a half hour or so out in the sun so you can get your melatonin levels up? How about exercise?


Religion is a wonderful thing, when you have a hunger for it, but it is not a substitute for living a life.

Thank you for the last part. That helped.

Anyway, Rowan did not detox in any program. She went straight cold turkey. It was her and a beach. But I get what you are saying as far as detox programs go.

And yes, you are very much right about the circumstances situation.

I'm trying to do more meditation. It's just a matter of finding peace in my house. My house situation is I'm living with six other people. My parents, my sis, her 3 yr old son, my grandmother, and my boyfriend.

I wanted to move out since I was 18. But between college and my sis getting knocked up, it ended up being a bit out of the question. For a while I did have a place I stayed in w/ my boyfriend but long-story-short it caught on fire after some dude fell alseep with a cigarette in the apt above us. My parents needed someone to help my sister during her pregnancy.

I'm out of college now, my sis's kid is 3, and I want to get out. But now the issues is a car. Had one, the transmission is messed up in it now, trying to get it fixed. But things are not looking good.