Stress Center Peer Support

In my opinion this the most helpful part of the program. You catch yourself everytime you think negatively and then you mark it down. If you've gotten good at replacing negative thoughts with positive ones then you can add this in too. I'm not saying writing down every single time you catch yourself thinking negatively because that would be pretty impossible. I mean stop the negative thought, tic mark it and then replace it with your head voice. This is great because it starts the ball rolling. After the first 20-30 tic marks, it becomes easier and easier and you can feel great because every one of those tics represents 1 accomplishment and an accomplishment of any size is going to bring your self-esteem and confidence up. I think it is soooooo great that I would suggest to anybody that has enough determination to go for a brighter future and become more positive, anybody who wants to leave the anxiety & depression behind them to do this at least once a week. Or do it on your days off from work/school. It doesn't matter if you do it properly, as long as you attempt and acknowledge it by putting down a tic, then you would have done it properly

I also would like to hear from everybody about their experience with this homework assignment. Tell us how you felt. Was your day more enjoyable or less? Did you feel better about yourself or worse? Were you feeling more empowered or less?

Mike

Has nobody done this assignment? Come on guys!

NinjaFrodo, this actually sounds like a good idea. I have a hard time writing down my negative thoughts when im not at home. I can't really be writing down my negative thoughts during my college classes, because there are ya know college age people around me, and it would be embaressing for people to see me doing it. So actually making a tic on my notebook paper would definitely work, and make me think about what im saying to myself, and change it. I'm going to try it tommorow! I'll tell you how it goes : ]

lizikins

It is almost impossible write down every negative thought you have during the day for most people. It may not be very reasonable to do this. Carolyn from the program suggests doing 5 negative thoughts a day and you would be really suprised at how open people are. I've done the negative replacement thoughts when working at tim hortons and at college and the people usually respond pretty well about it. Honestly the main reaction i've gotten was that of suprise and then they start asking questions because they get intrested. Either exercise helps but i do agree that the tic mark is more practical especially if we feel uncomfortable talking about self improvement programs.

Mike

that's great that you're so open with people about self help improvements. i don't know i always try to hide that i have anxiety, because i know that some people don't understand and that they don't want to...so i usually try to keep it a secret. I tried the tic mark thing during one of my hardest classes for me to sit through, music history. By the end of the class I had 15 tics and the class was only 50 minutes long lol. It did help though because i have a hard time remmebering to do the steps to end a panic attack, and everytime i would put a tic i would do the steps and say positive things. I still had alot of panic attacks, but i had short periods of time where i felt okay...so that is a start! i'm going to keep doing the tic mark thing during music history, because for some reason i have alot of fear in that class. i think its because the professor says that if you miss more then 4 days in his class then he'll drop you from the course, so its kind of high pressure to be there and stay.

btw i love your quote "The worst thing one can do is complain about an issue but not take action to deal with it." It's so true i complain all the time about feeling terrible but then i put off doing the program and helping myself. i typed the quote up and put it in my room for inspiration!

lizikins

I like to see it as in helping other people as well as myself. Why not make as much of an effect as you can in this world? It creates the opportunity to get more support and have people understand you alot more as well as getting motivation from the people who say you cannot do it! You win both ways! Everyone has anxiety and yes some people aren't willing to face their own anxiety and that is an issue inside themselves.

I have a really hard time remembering to do the steps but if you learn the steps they set seeds in the subconsciousness and when you do the tic marking eventually it becomes a natural thing to do the steps. I bet it was alot easier to call upon the steps eh?

That is really great that even though you had panic attacks you can look at what you have gained instead of what you do not have. That is a huuuuuuuuuuuge accomplishment .

As for the quote, I believe everyone has complained and not done things and I put it up there as a reminder to myself and others that we need to take action! I'm really really happy that you found it inspiring enough to put in your room If you're intrested there is a thread i created a long time ago with other inspiring quotes i could find for you.

Mike