My subconsious must have decided it was time for another growth experience, because over the weekend I did one spectacular set-myelf-up-for-anxiety routine, ending up spectacularly stressed and sick to my stomach. (No worries, though... all's fine now. ) What a roller coaster ride!

Let's see, now... here's how you create an anxiety attack:

• Wait till it's That Time of the Month.
  
• Stay up waaaaay too late, and start the day tired.
  
• Have a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast.
  
• Spend the morning watching TV specials on pioneer families who died gruesome deaths of starvation and disease in the mountains, including exerpts from diaries of kids driven to cannibalism to survive. Follow it up with a depressing drama on a mother whose child is abducted.
  
• Have... you guessed it, more chocolate cake for lunch. Throw in a can of Coke for good measure.
  
• Spend the afternoon debating with the insurance company about how much your totaled belongings were worth, and getting thoroughly irritated in the process.
  
• Get left alone for the night, while the rest of the family goes away for the weekend.
  

Gee, I wonder if I set myself up for that one.
Snicker.
The good things about it?

1) You know, despite my own experiences with it, it's been so long that I'd forgotten how powerful anxiety can feel - and in a strange way it feels good to remember. Whew. Those of you still dealing with it on a daily basis, you have my undying admiration.

2) It /still/ passes. I think this one is the reason I set myself up for it in the first place. So much has happened in the last few months (the house fire, moving, contractors, etc) that I think I was beginning to think that sooner or later my anxiety would come back. So instead of waiting for it, I created it - and showed myself I can still deal with it just fine

The coolest thing about last night, though, was that it was the first time I coasted myself through any real anxiety without the Attacking Anxiety tapes in the background - I lost them in the house fire, and didn't have so much as the relaxation tape to pop in and listen to.

Boy, I missed them. And I mean, really, really missed them.

BUT - I did just fine without them.

Yes, it feels good to control one's life, stress and all

WayStone

Waystone!!

Must I say more??? GREAT ATTITUDE and remember you cant have a "growth spurt or setback" without first making BIG progress!!!!

Loved your post!

Good for you waystone,
Isn't it great that we now can look back step by step and see what and how we cause our anxiety attacks instead of just flipping out and saying "oh my god what is wrong with me" the program has worked wonders for me that way!
Again,
Great job!!!
Blessings to you
Kimberlee

Good job WayStone for dealing with your anxiety head on! I loved your post, I'm currently going through a similar experience and it's good to be reminded that it will all pass in time.

LOL yup i know what you mean..
how about this one, im just getting to
know the bus system so...

1) get anxious about being late 20 min
ahead of time for a bus stop thats 5 min
away.
2) get to the bus stop 15 min early
still afriad youll be late
3) the bus comes on time and you find
you really got anxious over practically nothing.

you know what the ironic thing is
I was more anxious getting on the
bus then dropping my cell phone
in the middle of an crosswalk
with traffic all around me.
I guess I feel more in control because
I'm doing the navigating ..LOL