Settling Worries

Welcome to the final session of part two. I am so proud of you for coming this far and I hope you're proud of yourself too. I know that taking on some of these new challenges can be scary, but it just so happens that today we're talking about facing your fears. So I'm definitely avoiding going to the dentist out of fear. One of the things that I tend to avoid is finances and managing what my finances look like, so I'm the kind of person that will not check my bank account because I do not want to know how much is in there. When we're experiencing difficult thoughts, feelings, and emotions, it's a natural response to want to pull back and avoid those situations. What can inadvertently happen though when we avoid things that we don't want to feel is then we can also potentially not feel the things that we do want to feel. It would add a lot of value to my life to manage finance as well because I think I would be able to enjoy things more if I know how I can afford them. You can face your fears and other difficult emotions, even if it feels like you can't right now. You just have to start small and make gradual changes. So when you think about how you want to change things for yourselves, it can be helpful to identify what your challenge is, set a plan, and then start taking those steps to move yourself forward. My husband's coming home. Our life as we know it has changed. He's going to have to go into a an assisted situation. What I'd like to focus on that I'm avoiding is really, truly feeling the emotions and the gravity of what's happening right now. As you're picking your personal challenge, it's supposed to feel uncomfortable, but not too hard. I think the unknown is scaring me a lot. Instead of just dealing with it and just having information, you can't walk anymore, and so we have to get like a Hoyer lift and a hospital bed. Something to keep in mind when you are deciding how big of a step to take is that we can oftentimes want to leap farther than we may be able. If we start with something such as running a marathon, we actually may set ourselves further back than we were intending. You know, a small step I could take right away is just going on the internet and seeing if there's places, even support groups. If you are experiencing a strong emotion that's based in trauma or a significant fear, please, please do seek out help from a trusted professional or a friend. Your daily action is you guessed it, to face one of your fears. Choose a small step that you can take this week. Make sure it's something that actually feels uncomfortable for you, because this exercise is all about stepping out of your...