Hi all! I am looking forward to a lousy day, beginning with a procedure at the dentist's, so I thought I'd counteract the ole stress hormones with a positive thread.
Today is also the one year anniversary of my latest round of therapy. (It has been an extremely intesive year, almost daily contact and probably a solid 4-5 hours a week in session.) The prior round was 19 years ago! My therapist mentioned it might be good to talk about my progress in our session tomorrow, so I've been arguing with myself again for a while as to whether I have made any. I have, definitely some, but being in the middle of change seems discouraging at the moment, so I have a hard time giving myself credit I think.
I thought it would be fun to see everyone else's progress too, hope everyone will share your successes.
Here are some of mine:
1. I am calm enough now to spend a relaxing 30 minutes getting my daughter to bed every night, instead of the tense, angry experience it often was a year ago. (She has had serious sleep difficulties.) I still feel irritated at times, but we used to have fights and lots of disruptions... now, I mostly just sing her to sleep and snuggle.
2. I can manage my anxiety well enough that 90% of the time I no longer have outbursts from my PTSD.
3. I have reenrolled in a B.A. program after two major setbacks and am I'm most of the way through my junior year. Only a little more than one year to go, and I'm doing really well.
4. I have learned to depend on others for support more: I ask my husband for help and to share household and parenting duties more, and have engaged with relatives and reached out a couple times to make new friends also.
5. I have seen a shift in my ability to tolerate anxiety over all- I no longer have to compulsively clean house and I no longer make such poor financial choices when I feel anxious about money. (Yes, the carb addiction and one other bad habit linger, and I'm still working on anxiety big-time, but hey... I am a work in progress.)
6. I reevaluated my marriage more objectively after working for several months to figure out how my own issues and behaviors were affecting it, and I saw my husband needed therapy too, so he is now in therapy, working on his issues and parenting, so we can be healthier and better for our daughter. (The marriage is up and down, hard to tolerate, but still... progress, at least I hope I can see things more realistically now.)
7. I am back in touch with my passions and find a little time for pleasure and rest. I take naps, listen to music, write, go out, redecorated my office, indulge myself occasionally, etc.... all things I had mostly lost interest in prior to therapy.
8. I am much more straightforward with my husband, telling him how therapy's going, what I'm working on, what I appreciate about him, what I expect/want from him.
9. I am giving back a bit more, making it a priority to help others, just signed up for adopt-a-soldier, try to contribute a bit more, and reach out to others that need help, at least a little.
10. I told my mom no more 7 night annual visits! (Can't believe I forgot to list this one originally) so she'll be here for a long weekend instead this year, SO much better. (Thanks Mastodon, for your post below about asserting needs, that's what jogged my memory.)
