What POSITIVE CHANGES are you making in your life?

Black Barney wrote: ]
dysjunk, you don't have to do full lotus to mediate. You can do it on your back with your hand on your heart, and one of your foots on the side of your knee. I get a peaceful state quickly like that, especially if you have a decent bed. I just got a new one (Serta) and it's awesome.

I know nothing about meditation, but this is how I go to sleep every night, since I was a kid. I have to concentrate on not thinking about looking like some kind of weird vampire in a coffin; otherwise, I wake myself back up.

In terms of positive changes, I decided to quit working like a cyborg and have ponied up cash for a personal trainer that I meet with 2x a week. I hate spending the money, but I am seeing improvements in the 5 weeks that I have been doing it and am hopeful that I can unwind some of the last 17 years of tunnel vision.

stormseeker75 wrote: This little victory today showed me that I can absolutely get my weight back down and I don't have to suffer to do it.

Mindfullness is the real deal.

Always keep this in mind: For every 4” of waist diameter you lose you gain 1” of usable dick.

By Pete's math, I'll be Long Dong Silver when I finally get to my goal weight.

Just because the cannon is sitting snugly in a donut and Whopper cocoon doesn’t mean it’s gone for good, you fucking sexy stallion.

...no more microwave dinners and saturated fats...

SuperflyTNT wrote:

stormseeker75 wrote: This little victory today showed me that I can absolutely get my weight back down and I don't have to suffer to do it.

Mindfullness is the real deal.

)

dave wrote: ...no more microwave dinners and saturated fats...

Fuck Radiohead

Self care is not something our society at large welcomes unless you do it in public as a group, like a gym. Mental health is just what crazy and weak people need, apparently. *shrug*

This year I've suffered from debilitating chronic clinical anxiety and depression. I spent the first half of the year trying to power through it. I'm not unburying some past forgotten trauma, circumstances are good, etc. Something changed in my body chemistry. So i tried fixing it myself by changing diet, and rest schedules, etc. I wasn't eating much to begin with, so the weight loss part was easy - I've went from a size 40 to a size 34 waist since January.

I feel much better physically, other than the periodic day of high anxiety fight or flight responses a couple of times a month. And the depression is no longer overwhelming. Some days are just heavier than others. I;m making myself take mental health days, and making sure at least one day out of the weekend is work and activity free. No house projects, no chores. If my wife can't abide because of her type A personality, me and the girls leave for an outing.

However, I've reached the end of what I can do with lifestyle stuff right now and I need the anxiety brought to a more manageable level, so the wife and I agreed to actually burn up some of our deductible this coming year and go through the four months of primary care visit, tests, second visit to the PCP, refusal to take his recommendation of a general all purpose anti-depressant and asked to be referred to a specialist (NOT A PSYCH) to see if we can target this in some manner other than me spending the rest of my life taking anti-dep meds. I've also considered working with my neighbors in the office park that run a joint practice of medical nutritionist and acupuncture.

Of course that's assuming that I can still buy a comparable plan on the exchange this year.

Another positive :

It's made me a much more compassionate and empathetic person. I think something broke in me. You can't really shut off what you're feeling when you're depressed, and I think that spilled over into other areas. Walls fell down. It's great and it sucks. Because it's not always convenient having feels.



/On CC's point - before going through this, I think I would have been as tone deaf as anyone, in regards to depression and mental health - "Have you tried focusing on all the blessings in your life." "Just focus on the positive." "You should avoid situations that make you stressed then." "Maybe you need another line of work."
//Can you imagine if we talked about physical aliments that way? "Have you tried focusing on the good leg that isn't broken?" "Have you tried just walking it off while focusing on the parts that don't hurt?"
///For good goshin' sakes, if you have someone that says they are struggling with depression or feelings of hopelessness don't tell them to look at the positive, count their blessings, or chin up. That something you say to make yourself feel better about not really wanting to get into it with them. Truth be told, they have probably been sitting at the bottom of a dark hole, staring at all the light coming in, but that doesn't help them get out of the hole.

I think our brain chemistry must change when we get older. My wife is also a Type A, and she has anxiety and depression, and I have started experiencing a higher level of anxiety and depression, so that has been super fun. What's really dumb of me is that I didn't realize what was going on until it got worse, then I was able to look back at my life and see all kinds of indicators. My insurance covered five visits to a cognitive behavior therapist, but he just kind of threw advice at me while I took notes, "You should try reading that Stephen Covey book." He did have some good insights into ADHD.

cranberries wrote:

SuperflyTNT wrote:

stormseeker75 wrote: This little victory today showed me that I can absolutely get my weight back down and I don't have to suffer to do it.

Mindfullness is the real deal.

)

Cranberries, your post was one of the funniest things ever on this site. You shouldn't have deleted it.

Booth,
I don't know if you've looked into it, but a gym day or two can help. I am only speaking with anecdotal experience based on friends of mine who started lifting or doing martial arts. I can't gauge what you are dealing with, but it has seemed to help my friends.

I salute you for doing it without meds, man. I wish you the best of results.

cranberries wrote: I think our brain chemistry must change when we get older.

I don't know if it's physiological or environmental, but I pretty much agree with this. I feel like most people I know go deeper down whatever path of mental/emotional trouble they started lightly on in their teens and 20s.

Scientology fixes that right up

BODY THETANS

The only way out is through.