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Urg. I'm so nervous about tomorrow and going back to school... I seriously ate way too much, like I'm physically ill from eating so much. It's times like this if I wonder if my brain has a "shut-off" switch to create that full sensation. Maybe I just ignore it unconsciously? Who knows.
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So it sounds like binging is a coping mechanism. You are very nervous about school, and bingeing helps you cope.
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Haha, it's pretty much just something I ignored. Should've figured I'd do something like this, huh...?
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I didn't realize that you were still off of school, I'm sorry to have brought this up.
I am very interested in your tone of voice here. I've read a good deal of your writing recently,

, and you don't always have this self-deprecatory tone. Bingeing makes you feel ashamed, right? So bingeing helps in the very short run but brings shame and self-reproach after that.
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I'm pretty pathetic...didn't accomplish anything I'd wanted to...
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It seems that when you feel that you've made a mistake, you often treat that mistake as justifying a blanket self-condemnation. Yes?
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I don't know--I mean, I don't know how to go about doing positive things for myself.
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I should have been more clear, I'm sorry. I meant more to talk about managing negative emotions during times of great stress. So journalism, playing an instrument may be great and helpful generally, but perhaps they don't help you in times of great stress. At those times, self-soothing, distraction is more in order. Maybe at those times you could indeed journal--as a way of venting, not as a way of writing something great.
Maybe you could use some of these ideas during times of great stress:
distraction with hobbies, friends, family, crosswords, stuff you like that can keep you busy;
self-soothing with the senses (such as preferred music, shower, cuddly animals, pillows),
new focus such as imagining a happy place, focusing on a higher power, tensing and the relaxing muscles sets one at a time),
mindfulness (specifically being aware of everything around you--what you see, what you smell, what you are touching, what you hear).
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I suppose it just means I'm selfish.
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I don't see how having difficulty coping with great stress, which is a nearly universal human condition, makes you selfish. Again: having a problem is not a reason for blanket self-condemnation.
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I've tried therapy before, I tried journalism, playing an instrument, volunteering... I don't know, my journal failed because I felt stupid, like my writing was too stupid to even waste paper on it... so that stopped. And I stopped playing music because--well, I guess because I didn't feel like I was progressing or had any chance of making anything out of it... I think I do a lot of things like that--put a lot of effort into things and starting new projects, but abruptly stopping/forgetting to finish things.
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These projects: do you start them because you like them?
Let's go through them: do you like playing an instrument? Do you like to write a journal? Do you like journalism? Do you like whatever volunteering you were doing?
What do you actually
like? For example: I think that you like reading. Can simply
liking something, liking reading, be a sufficient justification to do it?
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Because if I can't do something right, I might as well not do it at all...
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What do you mean by
right?
Remember that having trouble, not reaching perfection, not even being very good for a long time, is
normal. TS Eliot even wrote about it:
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You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
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http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/2362...-2--East-Coker
So here are my questions: 1. What could self-soothe during times of great stress? 2. What do you or might you like to do when not faced with great stress?