Senior anxiety: How do you manage new on-set anxiety as you age?

I know I cannot banish my anxiety about somethings, but I can assure myself that simply fretting will Not help. So I do try each day ways as to How I could manage my anxiety well. After giving enough attention and coming up some ways to address it -- finding new ways to seek friends whom I may find helpful to assuage my worry for a future without friends -- is what helps me move on from worrying, realizing this is just a wasted now but will also diminish my efforts to find friends later on or next day.
So I am able to sleep well each day...and wake up with the first thought as to how make my day most useful toward my goal. Tomorrow I'll call a literacy society looking for those who could help school kids to new comers as old adults and also attend senior social at a library.

P.S. I found great suggestions from Ginger Volunteer Mentor in Can Anxiety Kill group above.

Yes thanks for a very nice post and I find it very helpful .. I would say that the lose of friends and the idea of losing my wife and waking up one morning to a dreadful anxiety attack and finding myself alone is something I don’t relish …this is a good forum and discussion group…I always feel better for sharing a post or replying to one.. I’m off for another skin cancer treatment..wishing all here a good day and night…🙏 pvctom

I'm 82, have suffered the loss of siblings and friends, and experience gnawing anxiety and depression about what lies ahead. If you're like me, you can't believe how fast time goes as you age. To help chase some of the gloom, I joined the choir at my church, putting me in touch with about a dozen friendly people. That move has helped me. But I still have a demon in my head that feeds me negative thoughts. They obsess me. I think about nursing homes, death, and sundry other cheerful topics. However, medication helps to suppress these thoughts. I take a highly effective tranquilizer that makes me feel normal. Be aware, however, that most physicians are wary of this remedy because it can increase the risk of falling or having a traffic accident. Soon, I will be seeing therapist who, I hope, can extirpate my demon. I hope you find a way to rejuvenate your life. You must be a good person to care so much about your daughter's tragic death and to carry the memory of her into old age.

@mjc907
Yes, time vanishes as you get older..and one by one friends and relatives leave.. I walk the mall to keep my steps and legs moving … I indulge my music hobby creating jam tracks using electric guitar and now I’m looking after my wife who broke her dominant humerus..and I try not to think about what lies ahead…Like yourself I wake every morning now very uneasy and sometimes terrified of the unknown….the big universal unknown….you’re in a good place at Mayo Connect…you can find comfort from real people who share your dilemma and from mentors who are genuinely caring and compassionate…hang tough, peace to you and all that come here…🙏pvctom

Even at 72 I am losing far too many contemporaries! This Spring has been especially difficult as two cousins have been diagnosed with MCI (close to dementia).
I fight it by staying close to 2 young grandsons and continuing to pursue new interests.
Willie Nelson is my model -will see him in concert tomorrow. He ha kept on playing, even after the loss of his beloved sister who was his pianist for years.

Hello to all

Leaving the mall in Spotsylvania Va, where I have been walking the mall floors for 11 years now…so many memories are conjured up here like so many ghosts of closed stores, store fronts that have been replaced many times over, friends that I used to run into, also long gone in a puff 💨 of time…I observe less senior folks walking together or separately for that matter…my sales buddies ( young enough) to be my grown sons, moved on to better more secure jobs…and I see apartments built where Sears used to be…my wife does not walk the mall…she never did…it bothered her hips and back as it did many of my musical friends that have passed or moved away…sometimes I find myself waving to merchants that look 🥱 bored and sometimes I’m greeted with a smile and and a wave or a fist pump…I’m hanging on to my wife who is my sole friend and we are lucky 🍀 to both be still able to walk…I woke this morning with a tremendous feeling of fear and dread…I said my short prayer for God to remove my anxiety and worry and give me piece…I will get on a Zoom AA meeting at 7 tonight, not because I have any thoughts about a drink, thank God, they’ve long been removed, but just to be apart of the group for an hour…God bless my wife, she has been putting up with the pain and ache that goes along with the healing ❤️‍🩹 process of a broken bone injury…and so I am going home and I am full of memories (a lot of good ones) that I am grateful for…for all that come here have a safe peaceful weekend and Memorial Day … thank goodness for this Mayo Connect…🙏pvctom

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

It sounds like you are really, really doing all the right things.

Sometimes life takes a turn and there are emotional losses and difficulties to endure.

And sometimes things that were never an issue before.

But, trying to get enjoyment out of what is still there is always the wise thing to do.

And it sounds like you have wonderful compassionate feelings for everyone...and that is a great blessing.....as many of us who struggle with more severe medical issues can get bitter.

If you still are filled with love for other folks, you are definitely winning at life.

take care now.

Thanks so much for the kind reply..and a wise one it is….bless you for your support and words of wisdom…living in the world today leaves me wondering 🤔 if I could be a child again, would I possibly enjoy the joys as a child in the 1950’s…. I came back from Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital yesterday with my wife , back to the place where on May 7, she fell and broke her Humerus…she waited for me while I went to my cardiology appointment…during my wait in the exam room, I took a peek 👀 at my ECG and was shocked to see where the machine had printed ‘possible lateral myocardial infarction’..!!!!!
Fortunately my darling of a cardiologist read it and she said NO…. I do not concur…she’s one of the best..she traced the ECG and compared with my last 3 ECGs and told me unequivocally there was no infarction, and it was a stable ECG…I felt relieved 😅…today, I finished my walk at the mall…and I still wave to some merchants and even to loved ghosts from the past…bless you and all that come here 🙏 pvctom

Hello to all

It’s Sunday and am doing some house chores…the morning anxiety was very intense again..
I prayed my short prayer and I got busy.. we have done a lot of normal wash and fold chores, and the reality of our situation seems to be more acceptable..and when I compare our situation with some of the others in our small subdivision, we’re still 👌 ok .. I went to the Walmart yesterday and did an hour and a half shopping and had some nice folks along the way in the aisles ask for help in reaching articles and in turn asked if they could get anything down low for me…then the nice lady assistant at the self checkout helped with the malfunctioning card reader at checkout…The other night, Thursday??
I had another couple of 30 second bouts of what seems like
BPPV then it subsided…kind of scary … had the meclizine ready..but it subsided…I was still freaked probably by the ‘false reading’ of an ECG ; but then had the unequivocal assurance from my cardiologist that that was an incorrect ECG and the little blip was not an farct and was not anything like 30% of the R wave that would suggest a Q wave…she mentioned that she has probably read over 100,000 ECGs … it was a Cardiologist speaking to me on a level with far beyond my technical knowledge but with kindness and professionalism knowing how upset I was…she even then went out with me and explained everything to my wife in the waiting area and addressed her recovering broken humerus.. I can only say I was truly lucky 🍀 to have had this doctor taking care of me…and still do…I’ve been getting close to 7500-8000 steps a day …and we both return to my wife’s orthopedic PA this Thursday to evaluate how her broken humerus is healing ❤️‍🩹
That’s living in the world today for me…hope all who come here have a peaceful ☺️ healthy week. 🙏 pvctom

Here’s an article about morning anxiety with ideas for relief: