Overcoming Lifelong Anxiety and Self-Blame Through Perspective Shifts and Emotional Resilience

My biggest takeaway, I think, was to stop blaming myself for things and stop taking responsibility for everything. That was huge. And also, I don't know if it's like, maybe just not taking things so personally. Everybody is hurt and that's where they're coming from. We can respond and react differently when those, maybe when the pressure or the pain has been removed. So my commitment particularly for showing up for others, is that I'm not going to wait to tell somebody that I appreciate them or that I love them or there doesn't have to be a reason, doesn't have to be a birthday, it could be any time of day. Just when I feel it, I'm just going to go ahead and reach I out and let them know. For myself, I'll be more forgiving of myself and allow myself to make mistakes. And also one of the that I said I wanted to do was to start I want to meditate regularly, I want to get some exercise. I joked on a call today, I want to figure out what supplements actually work and take them. Focus and organization are my goals for this year. I need that. And I think that some of what I worked through at Zen will help me with that. I've actually done it a couple of times already. and I really caught myself before it got to the point where I could feel that I was starting to get anxious, or starting to have anxiety, and I just pulled myself out of what I was doing. In the case of something at work, I got up away from my desk, I walked into the other room, and I had to walk through it and talk through it with someone else. But I was able to look at it from another perspective, and they gave me some help that got me back on track and able to get through that without spinning out of control. And then another time was with family over the holidays, as sometimes that can happen. Holidays can be stressful. And I had a moment where I said to my husband, I said, I'm worried about our son. And he said, you could just stop there. I'm worried, dot, dot, dot. And I went, no, actually, I'm not worried. That's what came out of my mouth, but I'm concerned. It wasn't that same level of like, oh, my gosh, I have to deal with this right this second, or it's something that I can't solve. It was something that I'm concerned about, and I was voicing, but I used the word worry because that's the way it used to always be. So it happened immediately. That was not even a week after the program and I went, a-ha! I stopped it and I looked at it a different way, so that was kind of fun. I'm most excited about looking at things differently. And not from....I've had anxiety for probably my whole life, and if I can go forward and have less anxiety that's a good thing. So my Power Statement... I am forgiving. I am accepting. I am resilient. I am confident, and I love easily. Basically, I just have to remember those things. I think I'm going to write it on my mirror so I can see it every day. I think my relationships with coworkers and with my family will be better. I think I'll feel better about myself. And I will be able to move forward from a place of strength instead of I may have had strength that I wasn't feeling like I was acting from that before. So that's what I expect the major change to be. Don't forget to enjoy. Schedule times to take a break and I got to make my husband do it, too.