Stress Center Peer Support

Today at work, as usual, all kinds of thoughts were running through my head. Among them- as I go through this program, am I going to be having to give up aspects of myself that I like in order to be rid of the ones I don't? For instance, my over-active imagination. I am always creating stories in my mind. Sometimes using a favorite character from a movie or book, sometimes original things. Usually I'm in the story as myself or an alter-ego I invented. I've often spent time amusing myself with these and have done this all my life (didn't have many friends as a kid, so my imaginary friends were always around). However, it is this imagination that also leads to me picturing myself in bad situations (even some of the 'fun' stories have bad moments). Will I have to give up all the fun thoughts in order to get rid of the bad ones? And what about the living for the moment we're being taught. What about dreaming for the future? How can we look ahead if we are supposed to keep our minds in the present? Isn't trying to anticipate potential problems a way to be ready for things if they happen? I know people who wouldn't be able to do their jobs if they couldn't think that way. Yet, they don't suffer from the constant anxiety we do. I just don't want to lose the things about myself I like (and there are several, even before I started this program). I'm only at the end of my first week, so this might be touched on later, but it's been worrying me. Any comments from those further into the program will help. Thanks.

Hi. I am on lesson 8. I had much the same worry as you. And I can tell you that you don't lose the parts of you that you like...they actually become better. What happens is that I don't put much stock anymore into the thoughts that pop in my head which are bad. I recognize it as a thought, but everything I think does not have to become a reality. I don't believe everything I think. I am still pretty much the same person I have always been, Ijust look at myself and my world in a different way. I hope this helps you. The program has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. It will do the same for you.

Take care,
Missletoes

The reality is you have lost "you" with the anxiety/panic/depression. You will come more in touch with your "real" self as you recover. Your self esteem will improve bringing you more in touch with the real "you". As the program says, many of us are creative people, meaning we have creative and imaginative minds. Recovery will allow you to use this for productive purposes instead of non-productive, scary, anxious purposes. You will still be creative meaning you will still be able to write stories and such.

Planning is necessary for almost everyone. They aren't saying throw planning out the window. They are saying that us folks spend way too much time worrying and obsessing about the future. They are saying to concentrate on the present in order not to worry or obsess and not to overreact or get stressed out when you do plan for the future. It's simply common sense.

We are analytical people. That analytical strength is turned into weakness when we worry and obsess about what might happen in the future. By learning the skills of the program the analytical strength becomes a strength again. They are not saying don't plan for the future. They are saying that's where we spend most of our time, in worry and/or obsessing about something that usually doesn't happen. A total waste of energy and time that keeps us from being as productive as we could be if we were more focused on the "now".