My Mental Journey

 

I wasn’t sure whether to write this post today but then I thought, fuck it.

 

I have just finished a 10 session programme of CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to give it its full name. Basically the retraining of the brain, it is a chance to learn new, healthier habits and attempt to eradicate old unhealthy and potentially damaging ones.

It is something I had looked into previously and had a glimpse of it a few years back by a counselor at school. My reason for not being 100% on sharing this information was because it is a personal topic that I don’t discuss with everyone, also it is very specific to me and I didn’t think it would be very helpful for anyone else to read.

Then I thought back to before my appointments started and how I had no real idea what CBT entailed and what I would be needing to do. So maybe this will be interesting for people or not, who knows!

 

My top tip!

 

‘You only get out what you put in’

Something that I learned fast was that you only get out what you put in. What I mean by this is, I noticed a massive difference in my progress when I made more effort. Each week we would focus on a different section of my problems.

For example, one week my homework was to focus on ways to relax. We found that due to my anxiety I was never really relaxing, never letting my brain switch off. That week, my main focus was relaxation, recognizing some time in my week that I can take time out and turn that overactive brain off.

I waited for those appointments and I am gonna work hard to get as much out of them as possible. I think everyone should think like this. If you get the opportunity

 

Recognising my main issue

 

After two sessions of discussing events in my past and my everyday struggles, we came to the conclusion that my main problems resolved around hyper-awareness anxiety. I think I knew this already but it was comforting to know that it wasn’t just me that has ever felt this way. She never seemed shocked by anything that I said which was also rather reassuring. From this realising it made our next steps much more focused. Rather then a broad range of techniques we could look at ones that would really benefit the issues I was facing one day to day.

 

 

This might help you?

 

This may or may not be interesting or helpful for anyone. Also if you have never faced any mental health issues it might not make a lot of sense to you, however I would just say that even though sometimes it seems super hard and that you’ll never be ‘normal’, it does get better. It definitely did for me, once I really put my mind to it and used all my energy to change my ways and learn new and healthier habits I started to see the efforts pay off. Now obviously I am not saying I am all hunky dory and I am 100% better and I never feel anxious or down, because that just isn’t true and frankly a rather unrealistic goal. I definitely didn’t think this and maybe that is why I have had such a good experience. I know that on some days I can feel anxious or down but the difference is I have the techniques locked away to understand why I feel certain ways and then how to begin to overcome it.

 

Its all a journey, you will hit a few rocks in the road but you will keep moving forward. Keep positive people around who will help you along but remember why you are doing it. For yourself!

 

I would highly recommend seeking medical/professional help, even if that is just someone to talk to about any worries you have or anything more in depth that a program like CBT could help with. Trying to be strong and doing it alone sometimes isn’t the answer. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak, in fact it is one of the strongest things you can do.

 

 

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