landry comments on Lesson #32

My comments are about Journaling notes on Lesson #32 which asks for ideas about problems which create more stress and anxiety in my daily life. Here's how I see those problems.
The problem is ME; I have traits which cause stress & anxiety and I don't do much to reverse these traits.
Here are some of those traits.
1-Procrastination; 2- lack of feeling I can do the action; 3- high resistance to anything requiring much mental or physical effort; 4- thinking: "will doing 'X' really solve the problem?"; 5- believing my TMS symptoms are sufficient to prevent my action; 6- deep down, not really wanting to do what clearly needs to be done; 7- not wanting to commit to adhering to a routine; 8- I would prefer to do something I enjoy rather than doing the dreaded 'X', which I don't want to do; 9- blaming life for creating these adverse effects, and then feeling victimized by life; 10- because I am victimized Life owes me an easy solution requiring little or no effort on my part; 11- wanting ALL of the good changes to happen NOW not in 2 weeks or 6 months; 12- resenting the required patience during the interim of recovery; 13- I just must be lazy.
How do I prevent the above traits creating more stress & anxiety in my life? Generally, 1- I could chose to believe I can decide on priorities, i.e. what is most important now compared to what is most important in the future. 2- having the wisdom to choose which is best, present or future pleasure; 3- paying attention my emotional demands but not being enslaved to such demands; 4- trusting I have the wisdom to know & to do what is best in the moment; 5- Just DO IT.

 

Richard:

Although your post starts out in a voice of "frustration", it seems you answered your own question in the end: "Just do it". How about each morning writing out your day. Choose the things you don't really want to do. If there are many things, then cross a few off that can wait until another day. Then do one or two things you dislike and wait to see how good you feel. Just one or two things a day can make for a Happy Richard at night.

I know the feeling of wanting this to work right now. So do I. I'm still waiting. I know pretty much what the hold-up is, but I forge on with gratitude that I've 1) found the program and 2) found so many people that are willing to help. It's that feeling of support that keeps me going. I have times of no pain, but I still have anxiety issues that are not helping my TMS.

This would make a great journal entry in itself. Why do you blame "life". It simply happens to us, but we have control over our own actions only. So do you blame a person? Your parents? What happened after you were out on your own? This might help explain things if you do a free-write on this sentence alone. Find out why you are blaming life.

This would make another excellent journal entry. And when you write these, don't think. Just write. Do it as fast as you can. I bet you'll make some good discoveries to yourself.

Hang in there. It DOES get better. And it DOES take time.

BG