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Old Dec 04, 2009, 10:44 AM
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Sannah Sannah is offline
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Member Since: Jul 2008
Posts: 19,179
Quote:
Originally Posted by skeksi View Post
The hard part, for me, is that the idea of me being an awful person feels so true. It's really hard to trust that maybe that's not real.
Skeksi, I really liked your post. What you wrote above ^ - the feelings are so true BUT they are a reaction to a past dysfunctional environment. What helped me to work through these sorts of things was understanding this very well (my specific situation, what I was feeling and why I was feeling it. IT was a reaction to specific situations in my upbringing.) With this thorough understanding you can unravel it.

Two things helped me with this type of stuff:

1) I came to the realization that no one around me is perfect. I had a lot of shame and this shame makes you want to be perfect, perfect to the point that isn't realistic. I started noticing that others aren't perfect and they don't feel bad about it. They stutter, they drop things, they trip, all sorts of things and for them it isn't a big deal. When I started acting like this a huge burden was lifted from me. Being real includes not being embarrassed about imperfections.........

2) I worked on my issues right in the moment (at a later date, after some unloading therapy - BlueMoon, it sounds like a great idea to notice what triggered you and then discuss this stuff with your therapist!). For me, I noticed my self worth dropping while in conversation with other women at parties (it never dropped with men. My dad wasn't ever a problem for me, my mom was). So what I did was when I would notice this happening I would tell myself "This woman isn't your mom. Your mom isn't here. This woman thinks nothing bad about you." This really worked for me. I was able to replace those ingrained reactions with new, healthy thoughts.
__________________
Don't let your problems or the world make you feel small. Stretch your arms out over your head. Take a deep breathe. Tell yourself that you are big. You are big, not small. You always have space, you are not trapped........

I'm an ISFJ
Thanks for this!
skeksi