It seems as if the world is moving so fast, I can't keep up.

I have terrible anxiety - thoughts assault my consciousness all the time. From my perspective, it's as if the world is moving on a frequency that is much faster than I can handle. I wake up in the morning feeling extremely overwhelming with racing thoughts, and it takes me an hour to get ready without feeling rushed. Knowing I have tasks to complete throughout the day leaves me with such dread that I can't enjoy any of it, even if some of the tasks can ideally be enjoyable.

I wish that the world would slow down by about half the speed it is functioning at right now. It seems like I am always struggling to keep my head above water - and note that I am living with my parents (I just left my second semester of undergraduate school because of a nervous breakdown), I don't have a job at the moment, I am simply getting ready for a piano audition, and I feel overwhelmed with this extremely sparse schedule. I can't figure out how I managed to make it to an ivy league school (that I have withdrawn from) - I used to be such an overachiever, and now I am just trying to get through each day.

How will I live my life? Good thing I'm starting therapy, I guess. Does anyone feel overwhelmed like this? It's a little different from normal anxiety, I think, which I also suffer from.

I sort of get a similar feeling waking up in the morning and trying to geton with stuff, but not as anxiety - more stress from lots of mixed up feelings bubbling through from underneath. i can't identify them too well, it just feels arrrgghhhhh to me. lol It takes me a while before i can function, or i can take meds and temporarily squash it for long enough to get going.

I don't necessarily feel the world or my thoughts are racing, though that does sound anxious from what i know (sorry im not very helpful ). I don't feel the world is going to fast, i feel like i'm just failing to function to keep up with it, which is true.

I blagged my way into an ivy league school, though I was an achiever as a kid, when i was a kid my parents handled all the mundane stuff, scheduled stuff for me etc. I didn't need to do any of it. When they stopped doing that, I stopped achieving. I could do the actual things I needed to do, but the psychological relationship i have with organising things, my life, myself etc seems to put a stop to much achievement.

I don't suffer from normal anxiety, but i do feel the overwhelmed sort of thing, especially straight after i wake up. I figure normal anxiety is a mix of fear/worry? but for me the overwhelmed feeling is specific issues and other feelings coming at me partly subconsciously so i can't tell what's going on. I've been known to dread trying to get through everyday tasks from being hit with these feelings, but be able to do things without feeling at all bothered most people would find terrifying.

If you have normal anxiety too, it sounds like you might have stuff mixed in, and also could find yourself hit by feelings to do with this everyday stuff at the same time as the anxiety you normally get? If that makes sense, meaning it could be a feeling made up of all sorts of possible feelings, not just fear/worry.

I think I have lost the count of how many times I have heard stories like yours

Quite frankly, to me it seems like all you need is a break from the stress in your life. A 1 week vacation would most likely be the best thing. I'm sure your therapist will agree but do go check with him.

You are most likely going to be prescribed some medication to relax you.

After your little vacation you may need to start practicing some type of yoga or other exercises in order to keep you relaxed. You may want to look into a new hobby.