Have you ever heard of Dr. Claire Weekes? She was a pioneer in the field of anxiety syndrome. I listened to her recently again after a lot of years. Her favorite expression is, "loosen and accept". Kind of scary but the theory is that the mere acceptance of the symptoms will eventually alleviate them. Because we dwell on our symptoms so much we actually believe they're true. I was having a panic attack one time quite a few years ago. It was in the morning; I was just getting up and still in bed and that adrenaline started building up and I knew I was going into full throttle. I was actively invovled in a group at the time and I remembered what I heard others say. DON'T RUN! Just let the panic come. I did; I laid there and knitted my eyebrows together, tried to breathe and HATED every minute of it. It took about 2 or 3 minutes and it was over. I didn't like the idea that I had had one. But I can tell you that I felt pretty good about myself afterward especially since I used to run around like a crazy person DISTRACTING, DISTRACTING. It came and went and at that point in time I realized it wasn't going to kill me. I went on to deal with the issues that were really bothering me. Eventually I worked it out.
You say you think the unemployment issue is not the problem. I can't remember much about postpartum issues. Could it be that? What do you think it is?
How are you coping at work?
Have you tried keeping track of ALL your negative thoughts? I know, I know. It's not easy. You'd RATHER just have them go away. I get it! I think I heard Lucinda say that most people have an average of 300 negative thoughts a day. Never heard that before but I'm probably upwards of that number. It has taken me about 5 or 6 days and I'm finally beginning to keep track of some of them - impossible to keep track of all of them - but I'm trying. I can't believe how I beat myself up about certain things.
In fact, a lot of what Lucinda refers to is from Dr. Weekes: bewilderment, loosen and accept.
When was that ever possible? I can be a bit of a perfectionist. What? Only God is perfect! I can be offended very easily and blow things way out of proportion. I have begun journaling every night just before I turn off the light - something I could never be bothered with before. I hate writing b/c my thoughts go faster than my pen so I always thought it was a pain. But I've tried it again and have found it helps get some of the thoughts from being repressed. I don't need those bogeymen. And, as far as exercising goes. I have to laugh. My son has been after me to exercise more and I always told him that I had only so many heartbeats and I didn't want to waste them on exercise.