Stress Center Peer Support

I swear, in five years, I have fallen off the "get rid of anxiety" bandwagon way too many times. I have so much going on that it is hard to keep up with the daily log books for anxious episodes, daily logs of negative thoughts, exercise, etc.

I keep hearing Lucina saying "Guess what? We all have the same 24 hours in a day!" But that's not necessiraily the same for all. I commute 3-4 hours a day, plus put in 12 hour days many times. I have two small kids, and even the greatest intentions as I leave work are snuffed out after 2 hours in traffic.

This morning, I pulled the pages out of my daily diary/log to start again. I listened to CD #1 on the way to work, and swore I was going to stay the course. As I type now, I just want to keep with it. I've about worn out the first three CD's, and have yet to have real success with the relaxing.

Any advice as to how to stay with this on this "ump-teenth" try is appreciated. I am tired of all these feelings, but my work schedule wants to fail me first. ANYadvice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Bye-

Well....
You sound like I sounded just a about 18 months ago. And I felt like a failure-- why oh why couldn't I "get it". This is what I found.

For me, speaking personally, the lists of anxious episodes and negative thoughts didn't work. I found that I didn't keep up with the lists in good times and when I did, bringing them up kept reinforcing the bad feelings. I am a SAHM and jealously guard my time at the gym, so exercising was fine. But... I was told about a book that helped me immensely. "Freedom from Fear by Dr. Howard Leibgold" I got it at a local bookstore and when I understood it a bit, I went to his website www.angelnet.com and ordered his CDs to listen to in my car. The info. is very similar to StressCenter.com but it doesn't focus on dwelling on what is making you feel stinky, but rather on how to defuse that feeling and really concrete steps on how to make progress in various situations. Nothing against StressCenter.com, but I understood this other guy better and it has worked for me.

I wish you the best. I remember being there and being held captive by something. There is sunshine out there. And if you can, even for 10 minutes, even with your kids, exercise helps 1000%.

If you want to talk more about this, feel free to message me.