Stress Center Peer Support

Hi,

I'm new to the program (just finishing my 2ns week), and hopeful that I will be able to finally make some real progress in conquering my negative attitudes, perfectionism and generalized anxiety. I'm having some trouble fully embracing all aspects of the program however, especially the part on the relaxation CD where I'm to visualize myself as strong and confident. I'd love to have more confidence, but due to my religious nature, I sometimes have trouble seeing self-confidence as a positive thing - I tend to equate self-confidence with self-sufficiency or arrogance, and think that I should have confidence in God instead. I'm beginning to see now that self-confidence isn't necessarily opposed to confidence in God (I think God has confidence in me, so shouldn't I as well?), but it's still a struggle sometimes to maintain this perspective. Have any of you ever had similar struggles? I'd love to get some feedback from anyone on this topic. Thanks.

Luc

Arrogance is lack of self confidence. People often fake self confidence because they do not want others to know that they really are not confident. Self Confidence means you are assured. You know you can handle anything (including anxiety attacks). This is not a negative. It is a positive. Not sure what your religion is but embracing self confidence is embracing God. You can't have one without the other.

Self-sufficient simply means you can take care of yourself. Independent. It does not have to mean arrogance. Just because one is self-sufficient doesn't mean one is without God in their lives. You are taking things out of context and keeping yourself held hostage in your own misery. Let it go.

Your concern over self confidence is your scare voice trying to keep you stuck in your pain. In order to get out of your pain you must be open-minded and willing to see things differently. Not everything we have been taught is accurate. Infact, most of what we have learned over the years is very inaccurate.

Don't let this concern stop you from moving forward and learning the program. Just skip that part for now and accept what you can so that you can heal. The rest will follow.