Free of Fear
Well known member
Hi everyone,
I am at three weeks of recovering through the TMS lens. I've seen incredible progress (going from 5 minutes of walking on Day 1, to 50 minutes of hiking today), and am feeling closer and closer to being ready to return to employment.
I wanted to share what has been most helpful for me this week. More than anything, it has been freeing myself from all the beliefs I had about what I couldn't do because of pain. Believing that the pain is emotionally-psychologically driven (i.e., TMS, MBS, etc.) was the first and most crucial step for me, but what has mattered more and more this week is building up experience after experience of doing more and more without increases in pain. This has helped to shave away the fear and build confidence in my body again.
I still have setbacks, but they are *emotional*, not physical - i.e., I get anxious that I won't recover (despite all the evidence of recovery!), or I have an almost agoraphobic anxiety that I've gone too far in my activity and have certainly overdone it.
What matters though is that, following Claire Weekes, in the face of the anxiety I keep going forward, keep practicing. She has this wonderful line about a day of being active with anxiety (or pain) is just as much of a success as a day of being active without anxiety (or pain).
Anyway, just some thoughts on it all. This forum has been a god-send. Thank you all.
Wishing you all well!
I am at three weeks of recovering through the TMS lens. I've seen incredible progress (going from 5 minutes of walking on Day 1, to 50 minutes of hiking today), and am feeling closer and closer to being ready to return to employment.
I wanted to share what has been most helpful for me this week. More than anything, it has been freeing myself from all the beliefs I had about what I couldn't do because of pain. Believing that the pain is emotionally-psychologically driven (i.e., TMS, MBS, etc.) was the first and most crucial step for me, but what has mattered more and more this week is building up experience after experience of doing more and more without increases in pain. This has helped to shave away the fear and build confidence in my body again.
I still have setbacks, but they are *emotional*, not physical - i.e., I get anxious that I won't recover (despite all the evidence of recovery!), or I have an almost agoraphobic anxiety that I've gone too far in my activity and have certainly overdone it.
What matters though is that, following Claire Weekes, in the face of the anxiety I keep going forward, keep practicing. She has this wonderful line about a day of being active with anxiety (or pain) is just as much of a success as a day of being active without anxiety (or pain).
Anyway, just some thoughts on it all. This forum has been a god-send. Thank you all.
Wishing you all well!