A Success a Day

[harasgenster]

I was thinking that from now on I was going to write down all of the things I did well at the end of the day in my diary. Usually, I write down all the things that didn't go well and just miss out the positive things because they seem so trivial.

So I wondered whether it might actually be useful for us all to do this on the forum? I'm here everyday now that I work from home (too tempting!) and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's great that we all support each other with our anxieties, but the Success part of these forum always feels woefully empty when you compare it to general anxiety or health anxiety!

The truth is we all have a success every day, so maybe we should switch the focus slightly in that each day, for those that are here each day and others that want to participate, we also drop by this thread and write down everything that we have done well.

By successes I don't necessarily mean big things, like going outside if you're agoraphobic or going on a date if you're social phobic (although they belong here too!), but a lot of little things you don't really fancy doing but have done anyway, or just small things that we've done well - things we can be proud of.

So, for example:
Washing up or other kinds of housework
Making a phone call we're worried about
Doing more work than usual
Helping someone with something
Making something (writing, knitting, hobbies)

That kind of thing. And also all those big successes as well.

I just thought we might all feel a little better if we recognised all the things we're good at, and all the things we do that are useful and helpful Because sometimes it's easy to forget.

So I'll start:
-Today I have done more work than I did on some days last week
-I've also had a shower, which I didn't do yesterday (This is a problem I have when depressed - I don't want to do ANYTHING!)

[allergyphobia]

Great thread!

Today, I'm going to go and have a cuppa with my friend, even though I'm tired and grumpy, cause I know when I get there it'll be lovely to see her, and instead of me having to cook the dinner it means my boyfriend will have to pull his finger out

x

[Lizzyg]

Great Idea!

Today I drove myself to see my psychotherapist and then I went to Sainsburys and did some shopping.
I also walked my dogs!
x

[allergyphobia]

Sounds like a good day Lizzy, well done x

[shoegal]

This is a great idea.

Unfortunately today I haven't done ANYTHING worth putting on the list though!

UPDATE: OK, since I said that I HAVE achieved something. I have agoraphobia and haven't been able to face walking my dog for 2 days due to severe panic attacks. Well tonight I walked my dog to the end of my road and back, and half an hour later a friend phoned me and I was able to walk him around the block. I'm really pleased with myself as this was something I had been working myself up into a state about all day.

[blue moon]

Today I am starting painting of friends daughter

[harasgenster]

OK, since I said that I HAVE achieved something. I have agoraphobia and haven't been able to face walking my dog for 2 days due to severe panic attacks. Well tonight I walked my dog to the end of my road and back, and half an hour later a friend phoned me and I was able to walk him around the block. I'm really pleased with myself as this was something I had been working myself up into a state about all day.

Yay!

This one's for last night:

I got some work done that I didn't think I'd be able to do
I went to the shop to buy things for dinner instead of going to bed and asking my bf to buy it on his way home!
Doing the washing up and making sure I didn't leave mess around for once!


My aim for today is to treat my boyfriend more fairly when he comes home. Sometimes my own insecurities mean I don't want to be near him or I get angry, but today I'm going to question my anger before snapping and try to believe him when he compliments me

UPDATE: Got a shower and wore a nice top. I wasn't really thinking about it, I just put it on because it's nice outside, so didn't occur to me to worry about whether I was too ugly to wear it etc. Looked in the mirror and thought I looked ok! So decided to go for a walk. Had a nice walk and feel altogether much better Even feel motivated enough to do some work that I've been needing to get on with for ages.

[harasgenster]

Been really looking forward to writing this post

Successes over the weekend

1) Wore make-up and nice dress and liked the way I looked (a little too much if you ask me, got a bit vain! )
2) Had a blip but got over it quickly, by not allowing myself to get trapped in my thoughts and trying to concentrate on the things happening around me instead - boyfriend making me nice meal etc.
3) Weighed myself for the first time in ages. Was scared because I constantly think my weight is spiralling upwards and out of control because I haven't been following my "rules" regarding calories per day - found I had actually lost weight somehow - revealing that my thoughts and even what I see in the mirror sometimes are figments of my imagination.
4) Talked to some people I didn't know and led the conversation (Another step further away from five years ago when I wouldn't leave my bedroom for fear of people!)
5) Counted my blessings! Stopped worrying for long enough to realise I'm incredibly lucky. I have an amazing boyfriend who loves me, I've got a supportive family and great friends. I also got one step closer to my dream career last week and didn't even stop to feel happy about it. This weekend I let it sink in and actually told some people about my success! (Was embarrassed before). Realised all my hard work had paid off and I hadn't even congratulated myself.

Onwards and upwards

[margaret jones]

A great big well done to everyone you are all brilliant we all know how hard it is when you are suffering with Panic/Anxiety /and other problems to give yourself a pat on the back ( we are all Great ) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[harasgenster]

Successes from yesterday:

I've been trying to introduce more pleasurable activities into my day. So here's some I did:

1) Writing a film review in afternoon, reverted back to old uni-self (film student) and watched the flick while playing with my make-up like a kid (trying on all my different lipsticks...haha) It was fun to just mess about for a bit.
2) Went for a walk with bf after work to look at some streets we've been considering living on - which was really nice.

Bit of a set back when we went to buy dinner and I got stressed because I have to follow "rules" with food according to how many calories I can eat per day. End up really frustrated trying to do mental arithmetic and bf getting annoyed that I rejected almost all food options. Sick of this now and a while before I can see a therapist so going to try and come up with some ways I can start to make myself more comfortable without the rules. - That's the aim for, well, the next year or so probably! No advice on internet for this! Ridiculous!