Hello, long overdue check-in. I'm still going with the schema therapy and it's helping me a lot. One of the biggest ways it's helped is recognising my negative mindset and the role that plays in me expecting the worst in every situation. I now keep a diary of all the things I think will happen and then revisit it every month to see how many actually did.

Case in point with the COVID vaccine. The only one available to me is AstraZeneca and despite the stats being really small for a serious blood clot, I'm finding it really hard to make myself go and get the shot because I'm convinced I'll be the 4 in 100,000 or whatever the number is. I'm still holding out hope I might be able to get Pfizer or Moderna later in the year. Here in Aus people 50 and over can only get AZ at the moment. I have no issues at all with getting the other shots, I just really don't want AZ. Sigh, still some work to do there.

Health anxiety thoughts still plague me daily too. I'm still convinced my upcoming mammogram will show breast cancer and oral cancer has been my latest terror of choice (so many mouth lumps and bumps when you focus on it!) I've been reading and listening to Dale Carnegie's book "Stop Worrying, Start Living" every day and that's helping me manage my run away thoughts. "Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday" is one of his statement that really resonates with me. I also remind myself that when I start worrying, I need to get busy.