Stress Center Peer Support

The World is falling apart financially and jobs are disappearing. This will likely affect me and my family.

Can anyone suggest a positive?

The World is falling apart financially and jobs are disappearing. This will likely affect me and my family.

Of course you feel this way, the media has made things look really really scary and how many times have they done that and things turn out alright? Look at the millenium scare when it came to computers for instance. Did that create chaos? The truth is that anything can happen at any moment either good or bad and you can spend your time imagining what it would be like and how you can deal with them and spend all your time on every possible bad senario that MAY NOT HAPPEN!!! Or you can deal with the things that are infront of you while saving up money even if it is a few dollars. You may even think about avoiding watching the news or reading newspapers if it bothers you that much.


Mike

As one who works in the banking and financial industry, I can make two comments. Yes, things are bad, and I agree with NinjaFrodo that the media is making it seem worse. Through their words, they are frightening millions of people into actions that actually fuel the frenzy and add to the problems.
That is not to say that serious problems don't exist, but we have people who are working to solve them, and in time everything will turn around.
Keep positive thoughts. This will change, nothing lasts forever. When you start to get anxious or panic, distract yourself with something constructive. Deal with the reality that is in front of you, deal with what is happening now, stay in the moment, don't "what if" into the future. In short, don't imagine trouble that doesn't really exist.

Ok, Great and thanks so much. I have another negative thought. I've made a mistake and compromized a moral of mine for what someone else wanted. Yup wasnt really true to myself and bent a principle of mine. I constantly beat myself up over it with; "how could I do that" type of talk. I feel really ashamed and stressed about it this past event.

What positive thought can I use?

There isn't a person who doesn't have an event (or events) from their past (distant or recent) where they compromised their morals and did something they are ashamed of. Nobody is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. It's part of being human.
You can't go into the past and change your actions. Sometimes that is the hardest thing to accept. You regret what you did, and you wouldn't do it if you had the chance to relive that decision or those moments.
Positive thought...You've learned from it, it's not really indicative of who you are, you wouldn't do it again, you were in a bad place or a bad state of mind when it happened. Forgive yourself and go on.
You may think, "that's easy for her to say." It isn't, I've been there and have made sssooo many mistakes that it isn't funny, but as they say in 12 Step Programs, "neither regret your past nor shut the door on it."

Positive- I read somewhere in the guidebook that it is called anticipatory anxiety. We, as you know create anxiety. Do not assume that your world will fall apart. Do not beat yourself for it. It will only create havoc. We are creature of habit. Be thankful for what you have Suggestion: OF COURSE, I FEEL THIS WAY! BUT, MY WORLD IS NOT FALLING APART. MY FEELINGS ARE FROM THIS TEMPORARY CONDITION. THINGS WILL GET BETTER EVENTUALLY.

It may not make you feel better but, try not to anticipate soemthing before it even happens. It may not even happen!!

Originally posted by wallyv:
Ok, Great and thanks so much. I have another negative thought. I've made a mistake and compromized a moral of mine for what someone else wanted. Yup wasnt really true to myself and bent a principle of mine. I constantly beat myself up over it with; "how could I do that" type of talk. I feel really ashamed and stressed about it this past event.

What positive thought can I use?

I have a poem that I wrote concerning my past in which I compromised ALL of my values. I am 12 years past that tough time in my life, and wrote this poem during my recovery from crack cocaine. I hope it helps you as much as it did, and has since, helped me. When things are really tough and I feel like making it all go away again, I just pull up my poem on poetry.com. Here you go, print it, give it out, use it, and believe it. Past mistakes are just future lessons, that is all, and we have to accept them as that, or we will drive ourselves crazy. I am a very moral person, and a perfectionist at that, so i think I can feel where you are coming from. Hope this helps...

My Mind's Eye

I look within my mind's eye,
A vast universe across the sky.
Ghost memories of white cotton,
None ever meant to be forgotten,
Lest the lessons held fade,
Like those mistakes once made.
They're to remind me forever,
Of things to return too never.
Then there's the second eye,
A vaster universe beyond the sky.
New memories as yet unmade,
All lessons of a different shade,
To be formed in new fashions,
Using long passed and learned lessons-
Beckoning to me each day,
Showing a much brighter way.
All these things my eyes see:
Those memories to set me free
To travel the path set before-
Past mistakes made no more.

Stella Christine Poole
Copyright ©1996 Stella Christine Poole
(AKA: Tina Poole)