The Challenge...Lesson 3

[Guest]

Jamie,
Thank you for driving home that taking some time for myself is okay! It is a area that I have never done well. It is ok to sit and have a cup of tea and not always be multitasking. I normally will take calls, do dishes, laundry, let dogs in out, be making something to eat all at once. just fly from one to another. Why? Who taught me this work ethic? Time management has helped me. I am doing better.

I realize that part of it is that I've been in a better state of mind so of course my outlook on life is more positive. But I really think that I've made noticeable progress in immediately catching negative thoughts and replacing them with realistic and positive thoughts, beliefs, and affirmations. Perhaps through this process I'm actually training my brain not to think in such negative terms. Do you think this is possible?

YES! YES! YES!
I too have been much better at catching those neg. thoughts, just like Ken in the tapes, it does kind of get like a game, and when you do it and move forward, not skipping a beat, it is empowering! Practice, practice...
You have done really good at working on your goal about driving. Keep with it your almost there!

[Guest]

Hope,
You have that right with remembering your humor!
I have a coupe friends who stop in from time to time, and they are always welcome as they always bring something funny with them. It remindes me not to get to serious. Nobody gets out alive!LOL....
I always feel good after we have a few laughs it lightens up the day!
Thanks for posting the link.

[Guest]

Karen,
You are in a more healthy place with out him. And so are your kids. give your self credit for choosing your self and kids first!
The anger will go away, don't dwell on the past. you can't change it. We all feel that way when we don't see the whole picture.
Its a new day, forward we go. think of where you want to go you will get there. Remember we have to have a thought first.
your doing great getting out, remember baby steps. Its hard...but it does get better as we keep trying.

[Guest]

I am on the road to recovery and will recover! Each day I am 1 step closer to complete recovery. I will continue to work hard because I refuse to let anxiety, fear, and depression control my life. I am changing and change is good!!

Ended up going out driving by myself for about 45 minutes...pushed and went about 1 mile out of my comfort zones on several occasions...anxiety was minimal...listened to radio and sang along

THH

I am trying to be easy on myself by not getting angry at myself when I think about my ex....like they say, with time it gets better..
that is very true that Im not seeing the whole picture......I think its more just anger at myself for putting up with it for 7yrs...cuz I just thought that 9 months later I would have been completely ovcer the situation....I need to practice patience

thanks for all your words of wisdom

[Guest]

Searunner

I'm slowly accepting about the 6 steps in which it does lessen the anxiety and keep it from becoming panic and thats a good point to bring up about letting time pass. I'm wondering if StressCenter.com got that from Dr.Claire Weeks's book Hope and Help for your nerves.

The part of exhaustion that scares me is I get to a point where I can't seem to do anything but lie down. I don't want to do anything that might be fun or enjoyable, I struggle even to get myself to get something to eat. It lasts for so long too, sometimes just the whole day and sometimes for a couple weeks. I can't live like that, I won't live like that and theres no way I could keep a job with that. Once I get that exhausted I have a hard enough time walking around let alone fulfilling duties that need to be done and then time is extremely slow and I feel that constant panic feeling. I almost get to the point where I'm about to collapse.

LOL the energizer bunny haha. Well i know I have that energy in me but its just stagnant. Its a chinese medical concept. I don't feel too guilty about taking time but still somewhat guilty that i'm not doing too many diffrent things. I also don't think this kind of exhaustion is something I can overcome by just relaxing. I believe I know what it is now and if I'm right then I know how to overcome it. I've been observing it and have drawn to a conclusion within the chinese medical model. I've taken some action at least when it came to exercising and I did some cardio and some shoulder exercises with free weights...circulation helps, I think sweating helps and if i'm correct then flushing out my system will correct the problem. I have to consume something really gross tasting though. I'll give more details tomorrow.

That video did make my eyes watery but I'm not sure it was happy tears or not. I've been able to shed tears lately and I haven't really been able to do that for years. Thank you for the video.

I'm glad you found the photos helpful, I felt like they might be. I've had those same moments with posting a long time ago. Well at least when you'd put the post in the message box and then press send and it direct you back to the an empty message box. Since then i always select my message, copy it then press send. If it doesn't send then I paste the message and try again.

The exhaustion I believe has more to do with how my body reacted to getting that cold as well as my digestive system. I'll put that to the test tomorrow and I wouldn't not read what you put up, not after you put so much into your messages.


Mike

[Guest]

mcshope

I'm feeling better after I went to the gym and did some cardio. Still pretty exhausted though but i'm working through it.

Those definately were good videos, I smiled but didn't get to laughing. I've noticed recently that I do take things really serious. Even jokes, people say alot to me "I was joking" and then it gets akward. However if I find something really funny its hard to shut me up. I will laugh like crazy and other people will start to laugh as well because I have one of those contageous laughs too.

You like laughing...check out the best thread on the forums,

http://bbs.stresscenter.com/ev...3105472/m/2401042702


Mike

[Guest]

THH

My body is rarely tried, its usually just my brain that is tired. Good point about pushing yourself when you know you've had plenty of rest. That makes it easier to decide if that day is a good day to face some of my limitations or not and which ones as well.

I'm glad I went out with my friends too however it wasn't easy but beer got me through it.

Karen L

Nice you went out driving for 45 minutes with minimal anxiety and sang along with the radio, thats good. I think you will do very well in this go with the program.

Mike

[Guest]

I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I feel stronger. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitations I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources.

Sunday;

Comment

Didn't really do any self-help stuff today at least not when it came to the program. I got to bed at 3am yestaurday as I did end up going out with friends. It was difficult but had a few beers and that helped me break the exhaustion. I don't usually drink so alcohol isn't really a problem for me. So I went to sleep at 3am I woke up at I have no idea what time I'm assuming between 7-9 and then went back to sleep. I think I slept around 12 hours between last night and today. Thats alot! I still feel exhausted but not as much as before. I took a walk and went to the gym and did some cardio on the eliptical machine and some weights followed by a bit of sauna which was nice. I think I understand the exhaustion now based on my observations the past few days. What has helped me before was flushing my system out with senna and consuming hot water with some sea salt in it. Its really nasty but it seems to work. I've already taken some sennacot pills earlier in the day and they didn't do much, I took them about 30 minutes ago (its 1am right now) and then i'll do the salt water in the morning. Gross!

I haven't replaced thoughts for a few days or used the relaxation cd or listen to the lesson cd. Just been taking it easy. I hope to come back to it tomorrow which is the last day of lesson 3!


Mike

[Guest]

I am on the road to recovery and will recover. I will continue to use the program daily to recover because I refuseto let anxiety, fear, anger, and depression control my life. I am changinf and life is good!

Mike

glad to see you have been getting out even thought you feel uncomfortable at times, that is exzcellent!!
Funny you bring up alcohol...I quit drinking in '92 and since them have tried to have a drink a few times.....it brings on the same "not in control" feelings of anxiety for me, so I cant drink at all.....

Last night I woke up about 5am out of a dead sleep with terrible dizziness,,,almost like how the whole room spins when you've drank to much....the room was dark, but I still felt like everything was spinning, and spinning bad....almost to the point I felt sick.....I do have alot of dizzy and "off-balance" symptoms with me anxiety, but this really scared me...it happens very infrequently, but has happened before...has anyone elase had this?? I ended up making my daughters walk to a friend's to get to school....I was so afraid to drive....fear of the ":what-if" I get dizzy again......when I did get up at 6:30, my anxiety was pretty bad and the worrying could have easily led to a full blown panic attack.....I was able to control that with my self-talk, but I have been fearful, word, and on edge since....I dont want to lose everything Ive been accomplishing lately....trying to motivate myself to work out now, but that sometimes causes me dizziness so I have been avoiding it...anyone have any input??
thanks

[Guest]

I will recover, I am recovering, each and everyday I feel stronger. I have everything I need inside of me in order to recover and face any problem or limitations I will ever encounter. Each day I become stronger with my skills and I can access more and more of my inner resources

Karen L

Ha thats usually similar to what I say to you about getting out.

Thats great that you were able to quit drinking especially with the high levels of anxiety and depression and even after when you developed agoraphobia. Maybe sometime in the future when you feel more skillful with calming yourself down then you may be able to control the drinking a few times better. I've never had much of a problem with drinking. I mean I would drink when I go to parties and that would be rare. My last job however was so stressful that I actually craved alcohol which I've never had before. I drank every evening after work just to cut down on the stress. It was too much and I stopped after a week. I ended up getting fired from that job because I kept getting sick every other week, it was pretty aweful but a good thing that i got fired because it lead to me taking time off to really work on myself.

I've had that kind of dizziness before. I've actually felt more like this the past week along with my exhaustion. My dizziness tends to increase when my digestive system isn't function as well or more specifically when i'm not expelling toxins as much. It can also increase temporarily when I face limitations. I am sorry you woke up with that, dizziness can be really freightening and produce tons of anxiety and panicky feelings

To know more I would need more information. When did you eat the last meal of the day yestaurday and what did you consume? How frequently do you have a BM and has this changed this last week? (As funny as this sounds, I am actually taught how to diagnose in chinese medicine ways by asking many questions about fecal matter but I think I'll hold off for now), Did you have any dreams? Has your overall anxiety level increased over the last week? Did you have an accompanying headache along with the dizziness? How about muscle tension around the neck and shoulder area?


Mike