ENcourage Connection

I just read Pat's post to Chrissy below and was like, oh man, I have been asking myself the exact same thing!

Pat wrote:
"I have often wondered, "Would it just be a good idea to get it over with? Shall I just get on an airplane and start to cry and hyperventilate and go hysterical and get on the news and be sent to a hospital in some faraway, unfamiliar city and have a breakdown of some kind and be put on horrible meds and upset my family and spend the rest of my life in fear of doing it again? LOL I am being facetious, but have often contemplated letting the "worst" happen just to let it go once and for all. The truth is, I know that if I purposely got on the plane and TRIED to freak out, I wouldn't be able to. That's the reality of it all. The cure, as it were."

My question to everyone is:

Is there such a thing as pushing ourselves too hard?

If panic attacks are NOT dangerous, just really, really uncomfortable, then is there such a thing as pushing ourselves too hard?

I'd love to hear what others think about this.

• Wow 07:46:02 08/02/2009 meg (0)
• Re: A question for all... re: What Pat said....... 09:53:28 07/23/2009 KerryAnne In Tassie (0)
• Hi Robyn 05:56:20 07/23/2009 Anna Banana (0)

In Reply to: A question for all... re: What Pat said....... posted by Why on July 21, 2009 at 20:50:43:

That's it Robyn.
That is a post worth reading again and again!

In Reply to: A question for all... re: What Pat said....... posted by Why on July 21, 2009 at 20:50:43:

I do what Claire Weekes always recommended....I "float"
It might not be everyone's cup of tea but for me it works and that's the main thing I guess

PS. I have to be honest and say I've often had imaginary thoughts similar to what Pat described. Then I get the giggles when I picture myself having a huge meltdown on a plane....I still remember the footage they showed not long ago of that Japanese lady who had a major melt-down at an airport...not sure which airport it was but it was shown on all the news channels. So if I was going to have a huge imaginary tantie it would be like that I think lol

In Reply to: A question for all... re: What Pat said....... posted by Why on July 21, 2009 at 20:50:43:

What I think is that if you push yourself too hard, you run the risk of not really going forwards. I mean, if you were to get on an aeroplane, you wouldn't die or be put on stronger meds or anything, you'd probably "just" have a big panic attack (or more than one). But I don't think that afterwards you'd feel "recovered". Maybe the big panic attack would make it harder for you to face doing other things.

I think that recovery is a process, and while you can't just sit down at home waiting for agoraphobia to go away, neither is it a good idea to just act as if you didn't have anxiety and jump in a plane or any other situation that freaks you out.

What worked for me was to keep pushing a little every day (or every two days, or every three days), trying new things that got me ready to try others more difficult. Sometimes there were things that were big, and that people around me didn't consider me capable of doing yet, but deep inside me I knew I could, so I tried. But it was all within a process, I think.

I think you need to listen to your own rythm, the time your body needs to recover after having done a big thing, in order to try another one.

It's not easy because there are always bad periods, and you want to get better just now, but in that sense pushing too hard can have the opposite effect you expect.

That's my opinion :-)

Una abraçadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Anna