Hello, My name is William, I've had anxiety for the last 7 years. I started the program a while back and it worked, I was free, but I stopped doing them around tape 8 and it came back to bite me. My anxiety came back worse than ever, so i started over and did the program word for word, it started working again, I'm on lesson 4 and doing the workbooks. I wanted to share something that my therapist said and it really struck me and made a lot of sense. He said that I dont have anxiety. My anxiety is a by-product of control. I'm afraid of death after getting into a car accident and I was basically trying to be God and control when anything happens to me. Well the truth is I cant. He told me that I need to live as if it were my last day alive. That is a hard pill to swallow, but it works and slowly I stopped thinking of death so much and just started enjoying things more. He also told me that anybody trying to control the things I was trying to control would get anxious. An analogy is putting someone who knows nothing about planes in a cockpit and tell them the plane was about to crash, fix it. Well that would make ANYBODY feel like crap and anxious. And once you let go of trying to control everything it is such a relief. Its a weight off your shoulders. I'm not 100% yet but i can slowly feeling myself growing better. It really is slow and I know now that my bad habit will not get fixed with a magic pill or quick fix. It will take time and there will be ups and downs. Good luck everyone.
W.
A new way to look at anxiety
Re: A new way to look at anxiety
Hi,
I thought this comment was very inspiring. Something inside me believes there is a majic switch that I just need to find. Crazy hey? There is no magic switch just hard work and sometimes making headway and then taking a full step back. So progress is slow and choppy, but hopefully overall in a forward direction. This is my second time through the program and I am beginning week 4. Was wondering how your second pass through the program worked?
I thought this comment was very inspiring. Something inside me believes there is a majic switch that I just need to find. Crazy hey? There is no magic switch just hard work and sometimes making headway and then taking a full step back. So progress is slow and choppy, but hopefully overall in a forward direction. This is my second time through the program and I am beginning week 4. Was wondering how your second pass through the program worked?
Re: A new way to look at anxiety
I am the same way about trying to control unrealistic things, it is a terrible habit I have formed. If I don't feel like I can control the situation I avoid it, which just makes me feel more anxious. It is a vicious cycle. I can tell that the program is working in some ways but I can't help but think I should be doing better then I am.. Guess that is my unrealistic expectations coming out? I keep feeling like I should maybe start the program over (even tho I am only 4 weeks in) because I haven't been doing everything to the T of what they say you should do & i'm wondering if I start over and do better if I would have better results? I don't know..