FOR SURE! I've lived a year of thinking about them 100% of the time. Progress for me is chipping that percentage down. Even if it's only 90% of the day it's a win. I figure every little bit reduction will be a little more time that my brain is not engage in the fear cycle.
I hear you (and have often done the same) but you know what? We don't have to think about it at all.
If it's not something that is going to kill us, why do we we have to think about it?
I read a book once about husband and wife that walked across France. Like literally from one side of the country to the other. At the beginning of the walk the wife was getting blisters, her feet, legs, knees whatever all hurt. She told husband she couldn't go on.
And then he said something that clicked with her.
He said something about just because you have pain doesn't mean you have to stop.
At first it sounds kind of mean and unsympathetic.
But then she said it clicked for her. For most of us, all our lives we learn:
PAIN ---> WARNING ----> MAKE IT STOP
But why?
If your hand is on fire in flames then you need to put out the fire.
This woman's husband, I can't remember if he was an athlete when he was younger or not but he had a different thought.
It was jut pain. So what. You are supposed to get pain when you are active.
Maybe his reaction went:
PAIN ----->*shrug* ----> Whatev
I read the book a long time ago so I can't really remember the details but it dawned on the wife, and on me, that giving pain our 24/7 is a conditioned response. It's designed to help us when there is an emergency that needs to be attended to.
But surprise! If there isn't an emergency, it's just a sensation. Not something that we have to think about.
The conditioned response, especially for people like us, is really, really strong.
I think that's why it works well to replace your thinking. Whenever you start thinking about the pain, replace that with thinking (and preferably writing) about your emotions.
