Post
by Paridygmn » Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:25 pm
Hi Everybody,
I have spent most of my life having the sense there was something wrong from time to time, and making a concious daily effort to deal with my situation for 12 years. Over the course of that time I have come up with several things that have helped me deal with my stress, anxiety and depresstion.
Going over the program materials I came to understand that depression is the result of stress and anxiety, so if you can control stress and anxiety, depression would be automatically under control as a result. This thought alone not only helped me feel better about my condition, but also gave me direction on how to deal with things.
Keeping a journal helped to unearth a lot of issues I had. I was able to look at myself objectively, record "ah-ha" moments and have information to build on. Keeping a journal had to be one of the most important factors that helped me to move forward and gain better control of my life.
Recently I came to understand that I was angry about a lot of things, from the time I woke up in the morning (hating feeling tired in the morning), to hating having to go to be or not having gone to bed soon enough and knowing I wont get enough sleep or would wake up late and most of my day being gone. I was not just being angry, but also being scared about many things. I thought about how I was drowning in student loans, bad credit, having background checks when I looked for a job, not being able to find a job, etc., etc. etc. I was angry and scared so often, I had no idea these were thoughts that hung around in my head the same way a head ache does. I had times when I would shake from the way I felt and had to ask myself if there were ever any times in the past where I had a reason to feel afraid and shake at the same time, and that was when I was confronted with the idea of fighting someone and I came to discover that I shook because I was not making a decision about what to do in the situation, to fight or flee, I stood there and felt the stress and anxiety of the indecision and shook as a result. Understanding this, helped me to see that I was being indecisive in certian situations where I felt scared and shakey.
Every section in the program covers different topics and I find it very helpful to read a book or listen to an audio book that the same topic. For example in section 2 Lucinda mentions the phrase "feel the fear and do it anyway." She may have said it because there is a book by the same name. This book helped me to see so clearly what to expect about handling anxiety and life itself and it was a building block in helping me to handle life.
There were several other things I can mention, but I will post them later.
I hope this turns out to be a real help to someone,
Paridygmn
