Hi Brooke,
I'm a big believer in keeping things as simple and as less stressful as possible. Less is more in my book. It comes down to getting the knowledge (2 books is enough) and putting it into practice. There are a a myriad of "tools" people use to do the emotional discovery and change negative thought patterns, but you certainly don't have to do all of them...just find one or 2 things that resonate with you and help you to feel calm and safe in your world. I would not spend more than half an hour a day on "tms stuff" and once you have the knowledge, it's really important to re engage with your life and stop caring about and thinking about symptoms. Success is based on how little they affect you, not how little you have them.
Your list sounds great as long as it works for you and doesn't stress you out. For example, if you don't like journaling don't do it. I never did and I still got better. If you do find it helpful then of course you should it! Affirmations are really good to do a few times a day because as cheesy as they seem, they do work. They engage the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Things like "I'm strong" " I'm healthy", "there's nothing wrong with me", 'I can do what I want. I'm in charge", "Symptoms and fear thoughts you mean nothing to me. I laugh at you", "I'm getting better day by day" etc etc are great things to say. It's also good to stand in a power position when you say them (like hands on hips). Jotting down a few things you are grateful each day is a powerful and easy tool because it shifts the brain's focus. You cannot be depressed or anxious when you are in a state of gratitude. Gratitude is an elevated emotion that literally creates a sense of peace and safety. If you enjoy meditation or short guided mediations, those are great tools to calm down the brain and help you to become more aware of your thoughts. The more you can look at your pain sensations with detachment and from a place of curiosity, the more you neutralize the fear. Lose the fear, lose the symptoms. Reading success stories and tms info on the brain is an important first step. Once you have obtained the knowledge though, don't dwell there. This part should not take long at all....it's ok to go back and re read things as reminders or for reference but it's far more important to live you life which brings me to the last point and your mention of exercise. All that matters is you do things that you enjoy and you gradually challenge your fears. If you can tolerate some level of fear and slowly start getting back into life (whether that involves exercise like taking a walk, going out in public, wearing certain clothes or even keeping a pair of sneakers out in view that you will someday wear) this is how you will get better and build confidence and lose fear. It doesn't matter how long it takes or if symptoms move or increase or lesssen....none of that matters. ALL that matters is that you gradually do things and start overcoming your fears little by little. By eliminating fear, you no longer activate the danger signals in the brain which send pain signals. Everything boils down to fear and focus when it comes to outsmarting the tms strategy. How you do this is through patience and persistence. You can think of your brain as a puppy who needs to be trained. A puppy needs patience, consistency, and kindness.
I hope this gives you a Cliff's Notes version of the mechanics. I'm all about that because when people get caught up in chasing "approaches" and obsessing about theories and programs etc.,,, THAT becomes another distraction. They start Tms'ing about Tms in a sense. This is a journey of letting go, of realizing there is nothing to fight, doing less, laughing more and doing things that make you happy. It always comes back to your life. The pain is just a symptom and at the end of the day it's irrelevant.
