I have been recovered for 2 years and a few months ago I had a whammy of a relapse/growth spurt. I just recovered again for the 2nd time but like many I am concerned about falling into bad habits and having another relapse. Once you feel good again it's easy to forget your lessons and fall into bad habits again which I feel is what creates the relapse. It's like I need it tatooed to my body so I never forget! Sooo here's my idea...
I am currently going through the program a 3rd time but this time I am jotting down important ideas that I will type up as a list and mount and frame. This piece of art will hang tastfully in my bathroom. I will look at it everyday. Normally I finish the program and tuck it away somewhere, but not this time!!! This will stay up forever.
I've even thought of painting important lesson phrases on coffee mugs..so when I'm drinking my Teas (made specially for PMS, Anxiety, Stress -totally helpful) I can reinforce these lessons while I'm relaxing drinking. You could get really creative with this.
I hope these suggestion work for others as well.
May God bless all who suffer from this condition. It can be treated, again and again.
We are bigger than this problem...let's problem solve!:)
Gina
Idea for Avoiding a Relapse
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Guest
I too am going though a whammy relapse, I am going to go through the coaching program, I think that will help me to solidity things in my mind more...but you are right we tuck things away when everything is going okay and than when you have to tap into the skills it's hard to get on track....hope this coaching session is the answer for me... 
SDVK,
is the coaching program different from the 15 week lesson program?
I was where you are at now about 3-4 months ago. I was in complete shock that this could happen again, I was like NO! NO! NO! Not again,..and it was even worse than before..or maybe I just forgot how miserable it was.
I really fought going back on antidepressants plus when I did try them again they had a bad effect on me for some reason. So I did it cold turkey, it was really hard and there were days I wanted to check myself in to a hospital or get on some kind of medication. But I kept saying one more day ...just one more day of learning..until I finally got to week 15 and things started to open up again for me but oddly it wasn't until several days after I finished that I felt really good...weird.
I am doing it a 3rd time..it's kinda weird feeling pretty good and trying to read lesson 1 all over again. Most doesnt apply to me anymore which is a good feeling..although Im going through it again as if it did apply to me, to make sure it all sinks in good this time!
You can do it, and dont feel bad about this relapse you will recover again, believe in that! and dont forget to pray, its more powerful than I thought, as I was never a super religious person. I pray for help as well as thank god for what I do have. Joyce Meyers has some great books out there...like "Straight Talk".
Take time to slow down....very important - trust me the world will not crash around you. And remember you are very good at scaring yourself...its just a trick you play on yourself and you just need to say "NO MORE, I will not play this game today!" repeat it everyday as often as you like!
God Bless on your road to recovery again.
Gina
is the coaching program different from the 15 week lesson program?
I was where you are at now about 3-4 months ago. I was in complete shock that this could happen again, I was like NO! NO! NO! Not again,..and it was even worse than before..or maybe I just forgot how miserable it was.
I really fought going back on antidepressants plus when I did try them again they had a bad effect on me for some reason. So I did it cold turkey, it was really hard and there were days I wanted to check myself in to a hospital or get on some kind of medication. But I kept saying one more day ...just one more day of learning..until I finally got to week 15 and things started to open up again for me but oddly it wasn't until several days after I finished that I felt really good...weird.
I am doing it a 3rd time..it's kinda weird feeling pretty good and trying to read lesson 1 all over again. Most doesnt apply to me anymore which is a good feeling..although Im going through it again as if it did apply to me, to make sure it all sinks in good this time!
You can do it, and dont feel bad about this relapse you will recover again, believe in that! and dont forget to pray, its more powerful than I thought, as I was never a super religious person. I pray for help as well as thank god for what I do have. Joyce Meyers has some great books out there...like "Straight Talk".
Take time to slow down....very important - trust me the world will not crash around you. And remember you are very good at scaring yourself...its just a trick you play on yourself and you just need to say "NO MORE, I will not play this game today!" repeat it everyday as often as you like!
God Bless on your road to recovery again.
Gina
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Guest
i think that your idea is great. I am still only on lesson 10, first time around. I'm not recovered yet, but I was doing very well. Then I had 5 days without any anxiety or depression. So, in just a short 5 days I seemed to have forgotten how to manage my anxiety and depression. Yesterday I had one bad day, and it was really bad, like I was before starting the program. And now I'm just in shock to be so bad again. Then I realized that I had felt so good that I thought I was recovered. And when I felt bad again it shattered my confidence. These skills are so helpful, but it is so easy to forget them. I really like your creative way to keep them fresh in your mind.
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Guest
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Guest
Gigi, Thanks for the reminder, I too, was recovered for 2 years and had a set back this fall and have been trying to refind my balance since. I think its time to get the program out of the attic and go over some of the key points once again. Posting positive affirmations always makes me feel good, what a great idea to start the day! And no, I am not playing this game any more, so back off Mr Panic, you are not welcomed here!!
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Guest
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JohnorVarouj
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:44 pm
I'd like at this time to share with all you a moment/ a process that has had life shattering impact upon my life, that I never would of believed it possible. My journey began some time ago ( 9 months and 15 Weeks later). I was sitting on the couch in the back TV room of my moms home. Wondering however was I going to survive the following day, for my mind was hooked on gloom and doom towards my existence of not being able to measure up to any ones expectations, the worlds, my dad, Ralphs, or even my very own belief that I wasn't worth anything. I thought I was a waste of good human skin. And 'cause of this thinking I developed Manic Depression and Schizophrenia. (Although presonally I don't agree about the Schizo diagnosis). But the clinic I go to has me on a medication that deals with both conditions. To which I have to monitor my sugar intake 'cause I could wind up a diabetic. So I felt Lower than low! And to be all honest I was probably hiding out from the rest of the world, too. When on the TV screen flashed an infomerical. At first I paid it no mind as I readied my remote to change the channel.
But it's topic was centered on "RECOVERY". I believe I lowered the clicker and focused on the dozen or so people that popped on and off the screen telling their stories of how they "RECOVERED" from depression! Oh my God! I thought as I engrossed myself into their dialogue, hanging on to their every sentence. They described their symptoms and my jaw just dropped as they stated they all had "RECOVERED". Of course, my mind was filling my head full of nonsense and visualizing Snake Oil Products that was sold out of ol' covered wagons centuries ago. However, the thought that I could be cured was enough for me to hang on and hear out the entire commercial. Then the CEO of this business, Lucinda Bassett came on and spoke her mind, telling anyone watching that she her self was a extreme agoraphobic who had cured herself by developing StressCenter's Attacking Anxiety & Depression Program. My eyes were probably like a deer staring into the headlights of an on coming car. For a moment all time, and maybe even my breathing stopped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing. Quickly as the phone number flashed on the screen I scrambled to find a writing instrument to jot it down.
Then as it faded from sight I grabbed the phone and made contact with them. I wanted "IT" too! And I was willing to sell my soul if that was what it would've taken to purchase the program. Of course, I was living on disability so I had limited funding, so I charged the whole thing to my Credit Card. And within a week my survival kit arrived. And I couldn't wait to get, "RECOVERED!" I jumped around from video tapes to cassette tapes in search of the magical formula to "FIX ME!" This was not a good idea, 'cause to advance in the program I needed to get the first Weeks lesson before I could advance to the next one. So a month in the program I decided I wasn't getting "IT". So I thought I'd start the whole thing over. I did this for 6 months or more until I started to convince myself that I was never going to get "IT". The turning point came when I got a call from StressCenter asking me how was I working the program. I was so discussed that I chose to tell her the TRUTH! That it was too hard and that I wanted to return my kit, for there was a money back guarantee that if it wouldn't work for me that I could get my money back. But before I could get this sentence out, she recommended to me that I get a Coach. Someone who got "IT".
And once I thought about it and found out that getting one of these was going to put me in a financial hole, I would get one. I figured sense I started the program a couple of times already that I could probably start where I left off. Nope! Not even close. Bob Bassett (Not related to Lucinda) had me start off with Week 1. Under my breath I resented it, but I did it anyways. Bob picked out which questions I needed to answer on all my individual lessons. To which I was pretty sure I cursed at him for making me do this stuff. I felt a lot of confusing thoughts, at first, wanting to tie him up and drop him off a cliff. For really the program was a soul searching experience that I was not too keened on doing 'cause I was starting to feel my Comfort Zone beginning to crumble all around me. I was peeling back my life and crying as though it were a stinky smelly onion. I was beginning to unearth some feelings and thoughts I had liabled DEAD ON ARRIVAL! Suddenly I was a GhostBuster and dealing with a mountain of pain, resentments, and a huge abandonment issues. God it HURT! Especially finding out that "I" was causing all my problems! I was choosing to allow myself to be filling up my mind with such negative crap about my past that I was like a washing machine constantly stuck on SPIN CYCLE! So when it came time to jot down on paper what I was thinking I found this to be totally difficult to do. But, I did it and as I did, the monkey that was on my back, I was able to give it its walking papers! All the terrible secrets of my past was bubbling up to the surface. The fact that I alienated my own father, that I wet my pants in grade school, or that I was too afraid to ask a girl out on a date. Everything I thought was my FAULT! snowballed into a monstrous lump of confusing thoughts and irrational beliefs towards myself and the world around me. Suddenly my system of blaming so many people that had come in and out of my life wasn't working anymore. According to the program it was "ME" who was making me miserable! Nobody can make me feel any bad, stupid, or conflicting thoughts about me unless I buy into the "LIE!" The thoughts that I was useless, idiotic, or that my opinion didn't matter at anytime. So I creeped through my whole life like a frightened puppy who got his nosed rubbed in to a mess he had made on the carpet. My God I had no idea that from sun up til' sun down I was playing mental soccer with my own ass! And once this was brought to my attention. I began to say "NO MORE!" And outloud to myself, too! It was time to clean out the attic and once I shoned light into the dark recesses of my mind, they my nasty negative thoughts either shrank or vanished in thin air. For once I started to use the tools I was learning in the program by writing positive statements to conteract my negative ones. The GRASP they had on me was BROKEN! I began to realize that the "KEY" to my self made prision was in my possession all this time. But I was too afraid to release myself from the HAMSTER WHEEL OF HELL! A Shift had begun to taken place. For instead of filling my mind up with JUNK FOOD OF MY PAST I was now placing myself at the table of a Kings feast! I was now allowing myself to move forward to a more positive existance. I am involved in recreating the foundation my life was built on. I have Graduated from the 15 Week program and I have grown the BACK BONE I wanted to do when I first started the program. Now with my new found faith and energy I've begun to build my business once again. For I have begun to make Cold Calls to other entertainment businesses to sell my products (TASTY TOONS, PICK-A-TOONS, CARD-TOONS, AD-TOONS, AND TABLE TOONS). And people are beginning to respond to them. At this time I'm working with an Ad Agency to help them create a cartoon spokesperson for one of their clients. Another business is allowing me to create a T-Shirt design character for them. And yet another may allow me to peggy back off their business to launch my PICK-A-TOONS off at their amusement park. And on top of all of this I may have found a friend (Possible Girlfriend?) to talk to in another state. So you s.e.e. the ICE BERG of all my dead, horridness feelings has indeed melted and the shy, introverted son of a gun has remerged to take his place in his life. For I'm not afraid to embrassing myself, or making a mistake anymore. Infact, I welcome the silly side of me to come out and PLAY 'Cause I know this makes me trully alive! Thanx.
But it's topic was centered on "RECOVERY". I believe I lowered the clicker and focused on the dozen or so people that popped on and off the screen telling their stories of how they "RECOVERED" from depression! Oh my God! I thought as I engrossed myself into their dialogue, hanging on to their every sentence. They described their symptoms and my jaw just dropped as they stated they all had "RECOVERED". Of course, my mind was filling my head full of nonsense and visualizing Snake Oil Products that was sold out of ol' covered wagons centuries ago. However, the thought that I could be cured was enough for me to hang on and hear out the entire commercial. Then the CEO of this business, Lucinda Bassett came on and spoke her mind, telling anyone watching that she her self was a extreme agoraphobic who had cured herself by developing StressCenter's Attacking Anxiety & Depression Program. My eyes were probably like a deer staring into the headlights of an on coming car. For a moment all time, and maybe even my breathing stopped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing. Quickly as the phone number flashed on the screen I scrambled to find a writing instrument to jot it down.
Then as it faded from sight I grabbed the phone and made contact with them. I wanted "IT" too! And I was willing to sell my soul if that was what it would've taken to purchase the program. Of course, I was living on disability so I had limited funding, so I charged the whole thing to my Credit Card. And within a week my survival kit arrived. And I couldn't wait to get, "RECOVERED!" I jumped around from video tapes to cassette tapes in search of the magical formula to "FIX ME!" This was not a good idea, 'cause to advance in the program I needed to get the first Weeks lesson before I could advance to the next one. So a month in the program I decided I wasn't getting "IT". So I thought I'd start the whole thing over. I did this for 6 months or more until I started to convince myself that I was never going to get "IT". The turning point came when I got a call from StressCenter asking me how was I working the program. I was so discussed that I chose to tell her the TRUTH! That it was too hard and that I wanted to return my kit, for there was a money back guarantee that if it wouldn't work for me that I could get my money back. But before I could get this sentence out, she recommended to me that I get a Coach. Someone who got "IT".
And once I thought about it and found out that getting one of these was going to put me in a financial hole, I would get one. I figured sense I started the program a couple of times already that I could probably start where I left off. Nope! Not even close. Bob Bassett (Not related to Lucinda) had me start off with Week 1. Under my breath I resented it, but I did it anyways. Bob picked out which questions I needed to answer on all my individual lessons. To which I was pretty sure I cursed at him for making me do this stuff. I felt a lot of confusing thoughts, at first, wanting to tie him up and drop him off a cliff. For really the program was a soul searching experience that I was not too keened on doing 'cause I was starting to feel my Comfort Zone beginning to crumble all around me. I was peeling back my life and crying as though it were a stinky smelly onion. I was beginning to unearth some feelings and thoughts I had liabled DEAD ON ARRIVAL! Suddenly I was a GhostBuster and dealing with a mountain of pain, resentments, and a huge abandonment issues. God it HURT! Especially finding out that "I" was causing all my problems! I was choosing to allow myself to be filling up my mind with such negative crap about my past that I was like a washing machine constantly stuck on SPIN CYCLE! So when it came time to jot down on paper what I was thinking I found this to be totally difficult to do. But, I did it and as I did, the monkey that was on my back, I was able to give it its walking papers! All the terrible secrets of my past was bubbling up to the surface. The fact that I alienated my own father, that I wet my pants in grade school, or that I was too afraid to ask a girl out on a date. Everything I thought was my FAULT! snowballed into a monstrous lump of confusing thoughts and irrational beliefs towards myself and the world around me. Suddenly my system of blaming so many people that had come in and out of my life wasn't working anymore. According to the program it was "ME" who was making me miserable! Nobody can make me feel any bad, stupid, or conflicting thoughts about me unless I buy into the "LIE!" The thoughts that I was useless, idiotic, or that my opinion didn't matter at anytime. So I creeped through my whole life like a frightened puppy who got his nosed rubbed in to a mess he had made on the carpet. My God I had no idea that from sun up til' sun down I was playing mental soccer with my own ass! And once this was brought to my attention. I began to say "NO MORE!" And outloud to myself, too! It was time to clean out the attic and once I shoned light into the dark recesses of my mind, they my nasty negative thoughts either shrank or vanished in thin air. For once I started to use the tools I was learning in the program by writing positive statements to conteract my negative ones. The GRASP they had on me was BROKEN! I began to realize that the "KEY" to my self made prision was in my possession all this time. But I was too afraid to release myself from the HAMSTER WHEEL OF HELL! A Shift had begun to taken place. For instead of filling my mind up with JUNK FOOD OF MY PAST I was now placing myself at the table of a Kings feast! I was now allowing myself to move forward to a more positive existance. I am involved in recreating the foundation my life was built on. I have Graduated from the 15 Week program and I have grown the BACK BONE I wanted to do when I first started the program. Now with my new found faith and energy I've begun to build my business once again. For I have begun to make Cold Calls to other entertainment businesses to sell my products (TASTY TOONS, PICK-A-TOONS, CARD-TOONS, AD-TOONS, AND TABLE TOONS). And people are beginning to respond to them. At this time I'm working with an Ad Agency to help them create a cartoon spokesperson for one of their clients. Another business is allowing me to create a T-Shirt design character for them. And yet another may allow me to peggy back off their business to launch my PICK-A-TOONS off at their amusement park. And on top of all of this I may have found a friend (Possible Girlfriend?) to talk to in another state. So you s.e.e. the ICE BERG of all my dead, horridness feelings has indeed melted and the shy, introverted son of a gun has remerged to take his place in his life. For I'm not afraid to embrassing myself, or making a mistake anymore. Infact, I welcome the silly side of me to come out and PLAY 'Cause I know this makes me trully alive! Thanx.
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Guest
I am so glad to have found this thread. I finished the program a month ago. I had started and stopped it so many times over the last so many years but could never finish, just to darn hard. I started the coach program last dec. I had a wonderful coach, Toni Kusak, who was phenomenal. She had me to see that i too was creating my own misery not everyone else.
I am doing a lot of things I can't even believe I am doing now. But I have started to notice some anxiety creeping in about my driving abilities. But I just recently orederd carolyn's driving tape so please God it will help.
I have half hearted restarted the progarm again. But not really progressing to far. I think I will do as Gigi suggested begin to write down suggestions form the program and mount them in places that I can periodicaly review.
I have written down a few things when I was working with my coach and hung them on my bathroom mirror, my laundry room, places where I frequently visit. It helps me to refocus.
I am delighted to hear slim that you are soaring in your new life. It has inspired me to restart the program.
Take care and God Bless everyone.
I am doing a lot of things I can't even believe I am doing now. But I have started to notice some anxiety creeping in about my driving abilities. But I just recently orederd carolyn's driving tape so please God it will help.
I have half hearted restarted the progarm again. But not really progressing to far. I think I will do as Gigi suggested begin to write down suggestions form the program and mount them in places that I can periodicaly review.
I have written down a few things when I was working with my coach and hung them on my bathroom mirror, my laundry room, places where I frequently visit. It helps me to refocus.
I am delighted to hear slim that you are soaring in your new life. It has inspired me to restart the program.
Take care and God Bless everyone.