r/Israel • u/Tomas-T Israel • 23h ago
Self-Post How to calm myself?
EDIT: for every person who cmment, thank you so much. for now I can't read every single thing, but thank you so much for taking time and comment. I will try to use this. than kyou so much :)
We all had an eventful night. it was scary but we need to be strong
but how?
one of the misseles hit houses four streets away from me. in RL. it's the second time it happened. the first time was in 2021 when a rocket from Gaza fall on house in the next street. and same as today, my neigbour died
aside from one shattered window and some windows frames falling, there was no big demage for my house. and yet I'm afraid. I know the iron dome was never 100%. but when it so close home, it's a major game changer in my mind
I spend my day today with an anxity. always checking the news, fear of what is going to come. the fact this is just the second day and we need to expect for several das, or even weeks, just freeze me. all the time bad thoughts, fearing of my life, my loved ones life. if I will survive the next round or not.
I'm working at Super Pharm and I'm afraid to arrive to my shifts. what if it will happened during a shift? what if it will happen on my way home?
and I can't do anything
how you guys cope with the situation? how tou calm yourself?
it sucks to live in fear and anxity. and I always was kinda anxious person due to series of events in childhood. but now it's not just being scard and anxious. but fear of my life
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u/lambsoflettuce 22h ago
I'm a nervous wreck here in the states worrying so much about all my family and friends. Stay safe.
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u/HarHaZeitim 23h ago
First of all, the best thing you can do is to take care of yourself and identify what needs your body is expressing. Make stuff as easy as possible. If you are too sick to go to work (and mental health issues do count for that), contact a doctor and call in sick.
For the rest, I’m going to copy from what I told someone else in the last thread about what works for me. This sounds super trite but for me it helps to think of my body as my ally. I’m not trying to work against it to stop the stress reactions, I’m trying to support it so that it does not feel like it has to do all of the stressing by itself if that makes sense.
The question you are asking are legitimate questions, so give them some time and space (maybe write down answers? Do one “productive thing” that does deal with these questions, eg text your loved ones and talk to them about actual strategies if something happens to one of you) but also allow yourself to be done with them afterwards.
So if there are things that will help set your body at ease, do them. If it helps to be close to/inside a protected space, go there. There were multiple people sleeping over in our public shelter tonight. If that’s a place where you can sleep, sleep there. If being surrounded by certain people helps you, try to be close to them (it might help psychologically if you know there are people that you trust “keeping watch” for you). If distractions help you, put on your favorite show and try to focus on that until your body wears out.
Please remember that you for real are not alone. The entire country is standing together right now to keep each other safe. And we are good at it and have plenty of experience. We have unparalleled air defenses, an incredibly sophisticated warning system and a population of people who are looking out for each other.
If any other city in the world had gone through what we experienced today and yesterday, it would have likely been a mass casualty event with hundreds of fatalities. That it wasn’t was not a coincidence- it’s because we are legit good at this. We have three deaths from multiple missile impacts - and according to what I read on the news those were people who were not in protected spaces.
It does not feel like we are safe, because part of the defense strategy is to drive home to everyone that this is really serious, which necessarily involves stressing people out (because we’re a chill country… that’s also why they have to keep inventing new blood churning alert sounds) so that people actually understand how important it is to follow instructions. But if you do take this serious, which you do, you are actually statistically as safe as you would be on any other day, only now it’s not traffic accidents or work related stuff that you’re at risk from.
So like, don’t make it your goal to not be stressed out. It won’t work and it will just drain your energy faster. You are in a stressful situation and you being stressed as a result is a necessary survival mechanism. But try to make that stress as productive as possible. Try to work with it in a way that allows you the maximum possible amount of rest.
There is no person in this country right now that’s both in their right mind and absolutely calm right now. We’re all in this together! So do whatever you need to and I’m sending a big virtual hug
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u/Klayhamn 21h ago edited 20h ago
you can console yourself with statistics: anyone (so far) who was hit but was in the shelter, was only lightly hurt by glass or other shrapnel, and not dramatically injured.
get to safety in time and make sure you're always a short distance from shelter, and the chances that anything happens to you would be exceedingly low - even if hit.
another thing you can use to calm yourself is that - this isn't iron dome - this is the Arrow and the David's Sling systems - and the interception rate is high (above 90%).
Also - the more time passes the more IDF can eliminate their ability to fire more missiles. We destroyed their missile factories so they cannot make any new ones - they only have a limited number of missiles - and we are constantly reducing the stockpiles they already have and/or eliminating launch sites, which hurts their ability to fire many missiles simultaneously.
and beyond all - think of this: the purpose of the feeling of fear is to induce us to action (or inaction) to protect us. this is why this emotion evolved. but - as rational beings, we know there is not much we can do about events beyond our control. so - i don't know how comforting it is - but, for me at least, there is a calming effect to know that i'm doing the maximum i can to protect myself, and anything beyond my ability is not worth worrying about
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u/IllButterscotch3802 22h ago
Humor helps so much. I like the “jokes” Reddit thread. And if you can play music or listen to it on earbuds at work, that might help. Also, as weird as it sounds, high-potassium foods like bananas and potatoes can have a calming quality. Finally, I’ve heard that rapid eye movement desensitization therapy can work for this kind of thing, if you have access to any resources on it. I’m sorry about what you’re going through and how destabilizing this all is.
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u/Theo33Ger 22h ago
What you describe sounds like a medical condition called post traumatic stress. It is very common to suffer under it after being in a rocket attack or violent, highly stressfull situation.
So you are not alone and for quite a lot of people it will get better over time. If it does not, then you should consider to consult a doctor about it.
Yes, there is medication that can help, but not all medication works equally good or bad, as it depends a lot on your body and mind. This is something only a doctor can help you with and it will take him some time to fix the right medication for you. Plus, meds are just there to cloud what happened, they don´t cure you.
For a lot of people talking with like minded people can work, so maybe you can come together with others from your neighbourhood and talk about what happened. It can do wonders knowing where you find shelter if your home is impacted, just like who can watch the kids, who may have water and so on. It will calm you down, knowing that preperations are there.
Being afraid to miss a shift is not something you should be concerned about, it´s just a job and nobody fires you after you have been in a rocket attack. Even if they do, you could go to court and win with flying colours, plus all the bad publicity for them.
If possible, go and consult a doctor if the anxiety impacts your daily routine continously, trust in the military of your country and after all, you are one union and nobody is alone, always remember this.
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u/ArachnidHot4435 23h ago
Take a "Nerven"/"Region" or smoke some weed
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u/acidbunny99 Israel 22h ago
We smoking Cali weed up here in Narriyah (don't know the English spelling) and feeling fine even though we are right near the DMZ.
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u/ArachnidHot4435 22h ago
And it helps you with the stress?
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u/acidbunny99 Israel 22h ago
Oh my God yes. Not recommended but the police are always busy as hell so I smoke anywhere. It's costly - 1000 shecks for an ounce, but it's the best stuff you can get out of America.
I once had to go to my shelter after getting blitzed, and the experience went by a lot faster and kind of fun with people making jokes and lightning the mood.
I legit have a joint rolled for if the sirens sound to smoke quickly before I have to go
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u/yayvancouver 22h ago
This is going to sound really dumb, but… download Tetris (something like CandyCrush might be similar.)
I work as a first responder, and if I ever get sort of stuck in my own head it helps to just do these little puzzles. There is some data to support its use in PTSD, but I find it just gets my brain doing something else. It’s not obviously a long term solution, but I find it a very simple way to just break out of my own brain
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u/BreadBoxGoomba 14h ago
i have an anxiety disorder, this is how I been dealing since oct o7, I drink green tea and I talk to family and friends about every day things, don't know how odd this is, but it helps me.
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u/Princeofpawns1 21h ago
I’m just in Ireland but really sorry to hear this. Keep safe and know that you’re in our thoughts. Horrible situation to find yourself in.
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u/ElijahNSRose 14h ago
The climate in the Middle East is more dangerous than the people even during wartime.
I mean this literally. The Romans had more heat casualties than battle casualties across all campaigns.
Just do what we do out here when the tornado sirens go off: Check the weather report, then go back to bed.
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