Why Anxiety Creates the Feeling of Impending Doom (and How to Overcome It)

 Feeling a sense of impending doom, or that something terrible is about to happen, is a normal part of anxiety. This sensation can make you feel like something catastrophic is about to happen, even when you're perfectly safe. Well, I assure you that you are not alone - this is a very common experience for anxiety sufferers. So I want to unpack why you experience this feeling and give you the right way to respond so you’re no longer afraid of it.

If you don’t know my story, I suffered through absolutely debilitating anxiety and panic attacks for nearly two years. I went from an outgoing guy to someone who could barely leave his house. It affected every aspect of my life. I could barely manage to show up to work, I couldn’t be the husband that I wanted to be, and I couldn’t have the experiences and adventures that I wanted to have. My life had completely changed – seemingly overnight – and my sole objective soon became just to try to survive each day. 

Well, during this period, there were moments nearly every day when a sense of complete doom would wash over me. I could just be standing in my kitchen, and suddenly feel like something terrible was about to happen or that I was going to pass away. It’d be really terrifying, and this feeling would seem to come out of nowhere – even when I was in a safe environment like my kitchen. Then, for the rest of the day, this feeling would hang over me like a dark cloud, and I’d keep thinking, "Something bad is going to happen."

Alright, so let's break this down. Anxiety can create a wide array of emotions – you can feel tired, depressed, panicked, and many other emotions, which include this overwhelming feeling that something awful is about to occur. This is what I like to call the “feeling of impending doom,” and it can strike in random situations, even when everything seems to be fine. 

So, why does this happen? Well, it has to do with you being stuck in a state of heightened anxiety, where your nervous system is in overdrive. See, your body is stuck in fight-or-flight mode, and your body is reacting as if there are threats around even when there are none. This hypersensitivity can cause intense emotional responses, one of which is the feeling of impending doom.

Here’s what happens: when your brain perceives a threat, whether real or not, it sends a signal to your adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare your body to either fight the threat or run away from it. This is a very useful response if you’re in actual danger, like if you need to quickly get out of the way of an oncoming car. But when you have anxiety, this response is constantly triggered and there’s no real threat to fight or flee from, it can create this sense of impending doom. OK, so that’s why you are experiencing this feeling - it is your overactive, sensitized nervous system that is creating it.

Now, let's talk about how to respond to this feeling. Alright, the natural reaction is to want it to freeze up and become very scared. But here's the trick: you need to do the exact opposite. What I want you to do is implement the Fearless Approach. I talk about the Fearless Approach all the time, but if you don’t know about it make sure to click the 5-Step Cure to Anxiety and Panic Attacks in the link below. It’s free and it’ll break down the Fearless Approach. But the Fearless Approach is going to be your new approach to anxiety. It’s a set of steps that you implement each time you experience anxiety. For today’s purposes, let’s just use the core two steps of: 1. Dismiss your anxious thoughts 2. Surrender to anxiety - those are the steps you use the majority of the time. So when you feel that sense of dread, a lot of times your brain will race with worry: “Is something really bad going to happen?” “Am I going to away?” And your brain just goes on and on with these worries. The first thing I want you to do is to stop these thoughts and worries in their tracks. I want you to dismiss these thoughts, which is Step #1. To do that, say the phrase “Who Cares!” In other words, if you have the worry “Is something really bad going to happen?” You say, “Who Cares!” in response to that thought. 

The reason you can Dismiss this thought is because you know that you’re only having those thoughts and sensations because of your fight or flight response. You know that you’re actually safe and that nothing bad is going to happen to you. So, what dismissing these thoughts does is allow you to get these thoughts out of your head. So, dismiss the thought, put a smile on your face, and then I want you to move on to Step #2, which is Surrender to that doomsday feeling. In other words, do not – I repeat – do not let it make you feel more afraid. Instead, let that sensation come on in. Let it be present. 

OK, for me personally, these feelings of impending doom typically occurred shortly after I’d wake up in the morning. I’d be getting ready for the day and then have this overwhelming sense of doom. As I began recovering though, I stopped letting these feelings and thoughts frighten me. Instead, I’d say “Who cares!” to any negative thoughts that I’d have, and then I’d surrender to the sensation itself. In other words, I’d tell myself that it was just a feeling and that it was okay to feel this way. Then, I’d return my focus back to what was doing. I’d make breakfast, get dressed, and go to work. This feeling would still be there for a bit, but I wasn’t giving it any attention. I wasn’t letting it scare me and make me even more anxious. 

To be clear, this was a huge mindset shift from what I’d previously been doing. Because what would previously happen was I would freeze up, and I’d actually have this feeling like I wanted to run and hide. I’d even have times where I’d call in sick to work because I had such an overwhelming sense of dread like I was about to pass away or something bad was about to happen. 

But like I said, once I began implementing what I now call the Fearless Approach, everything changed. I no longer reacted in fear and this signaled to my brain that there was nothing to be afraid of. That there was no danger around and this feeling of doom was not needed.

In essence, what we’re doing is we are allowing fear in. We are saying, “Alright, I know this is just a feeling and I’m going to allow it to be present with me.” And again, I can’t stress this enough, the reason we can do that is because this feeling of sudden dread is just your body is in fight or flight mode. That’s it. It’s the adrenaline and stress hormones that are making you feel this way. Another important aspect is understanding that these feelings are temporary. When you’re in the midst of feeling this way, I know it can feel like it will never end and there is no hope. But remember, these sensations are just your body’s response to stress. They will pass, so remind yourself that this is a temporary state, and that will help reduce the fear and intensity of the experience.

If you haven’t already, to get more information on the Fearless Approach and all aspects of recovery, I’ve put the 5-Step Cure to Anxiety and Panic Attacks in the link below. It’s going to show you the recovery process so you can fully overcome anxiety once and for all and get back to living a normal life.