Acclimatise to EVERY Environment

Ever gone shopping, lunch / coffee with friends, to the movies, work, ANY outside activity can lead you to sit and worry and fret over nothing in particular. It is just the “thought” of engaging in any activity can send us into emotional-shock!!!

It could be anything to get your nerves on edge from the lighting, the noise of all of the hustle & bustle in the shops, sitting in a quiet room watching a movie, concentrating on your job. Whatever it is that pushes your buttons, I advise you do the following:

Get wherever you are wanting to go earlier than scheduled, what you are wanting to do is ACCLIMATISE to your environment. Because it only takes 10-15 minutes to go from fear to calm.

Going to the shops? Go there earlier, take some time, sit in your car or walk to the toilets, practice your BREATHING (In The Beginning (May ‘08) and Out & About (June ‘08)) if you feel yourself getting light-headed. Practice the TAPPING as previously discussed (Tap Away Your Troubles (June ’08)), or simply sit (yes, in the toilets) and get back your balance! Also, the diversion-tactic as discussed this month under “Out & About (June ’08)”.

If you have an iPod, take it with you wherever you go, keep the music, or audio-book (my personal favourite) on it that makes you feel good and listen to that! – Depressed / Nervous??? Mix It Up… (June ’08).

You could also head straight for a coffee shop, grab a water (Nutrition Matters (June ’08)), perhaps tea, whatever works for you and sit and drink and relax. You could even take a favourite magazine to flick through to keep your mind occupied!

OR – You could very well just dread the thought of doing any of this, if this is the case and WHEN you get the urge to want to go and do something (shopping, lunch, etc), go and do it, BUT, when you do this, I would like for you to KNOW that you have the option at ANY TIME to leave! When you do, DON’T criticise yourself for having done so, you are wanting to CONGRATULATE yourself for having tried it at all!!! Bleed those good feelings of what it felt like to take that first step, you are TRULY AMAZING, you will know within yourself that when the time is right to take that next step, you will and you will again come through it with flying colours!!! (I am speaking from experience)! If you are still having troubles, read about my section on Journaling – A Must Read (June ’08), and you will get there! Don’t keep checking the time-frame, your best time-frame is your emotions!!!

It takes EVERYONE a certain amount of time to acclimatise to their environment, so, PLEASE, be easy upon yourself and KNOW that you are not alone in this (ALL OF THIS), there are plenty in the same boat as you!

LOVE TO YOU

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

Take Back YOUR POWER

This is key! Take back the ownership of your feelings! Be OK with where you are at, you have to be ok with it before you can change.

POWER DOES NOT = PUSHING AGAINST

LOVE YOURSELF – A corny line I know, BUT, an important one! Louise Hay is an amazing woman and she said it perfectly “I LOVE AND APPROVE OF MYSELF”, I said this every day when I got nervous / depressed for whatever reason. Keep repeating that phrase to yourself and see what happens! Many of you may very well be thinking that it is too weak, not enough substance to it. I have to tell you, in the 16 years I had panic attacks & depression, the small & easy steps ARE the ones that work!

STOP TRYING TO PLEASE OTHERS – Ever heard this line “You just have to snap-out of it”? Frustrating, isn’t it! You want to please your loved ones and try to do back-flips in order to do so! STOP, it will never happen. No matter how hard you try or what you do, it will never please them how you want it to! This is only for their own selfish interests. I know, they would debate this and well they should (hear me out with this one), they (loved one’s), want to see you happy, healthy & thriving because it makes them feel bad to see you otherwise, SURE they also want it for you, but, this does NOT help you. The more tricks you try to do to please them, the more disconnected with you you are becoming. Then, you fall back into a ditch and wonder what on earth happened! STOP TRYING TO LOOK GOOD ON THE OUTSIDE TO PLEASE ANYONE ELSE because inside, you know it is false and feel ten times worse inside for having tried it! I am talking about working from the inside-out. Explain to them (in a nice way) that you need to do things at your own pace in order to succeed. Also explain how much their being there means to you and you love and even need their support. PLEASE NEVER AGAIN BE ON A DIFFERENT PAGE TO YOUR LOVED ONES, this hinders and confuses your recovery!

TRY NOT RELYING ON OTHERS – I know, there was a point in my life just reading that line sent shivers down my spine, the very thought of not having a “safety-net” scared the daylights out of me. If this is how you feel, don’t. Simple as that. Just entertain the idea of not having that safety-net all of the time and you will get there, I promise! For those of you who are ok with this statement and still have that certain someone doing things you dare not do, occasionally try doing it yourself when you get that whim you think you can, because you know what, YOU CAN :) Even imagining doing things on your own can conjure some amazing feelings from within, build those thoughts up enough and you will be spurred on to exciting new levels you didn’t know you had in you!

DON’T FORCE ANYTHING - All in good time! There will be days you read this and think “what’s the point, why bother, what’s the use”, the use is this. Each day you do something different to your normal day and slowly without realising it (which is why you get to the ‘what’s the point’ thoughts) you are releasing the resistance regarding your panic / depression. Don’t take this as a set-back, why, because…..

EVERYBODY HAS A BAD DAY - YES, you heard right. We often think that we are the only ones who have bad days when panic / depression becomes our right-hand-man. Step back and think, people who have never had a nervous bone in their body wake up some mornings feeling dread, fear or downright depressed for no apparent reason. If they thought too much about it, they’d be reading this too. The ones who succeed just take it with a pinch of salt, YOU can do the same! Be easy on yourself and remember….

LOVE AND APPROVE OF YOURSELF!!!

MUCH MUCH LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*