Obsessive, Scary Thoughts

My anxiety has taken the form of obsessive scary thoughts.  At first, I was convinced I was a bad, crazy person, but through the help of Dr. F I've realized it's only anxiety.  It took me a while to really believe that, I thought somehow I was the exception.  But I am trusting Dr. F, that I'm not crazy and I'm not evil, I just have anxiety.
My husband has been out of town for over a week now, and while he's been gone my obsessive throughs have gotten worse.  There are some days, when my thoughts don't even bother me, but other days, it feels like my mind is running on overdrive and my thoughts become really scary.  I had an appointment with Dr. F on Friday and she gave me some great info about obsessive thoughts that I wanted to share.

*Obsessive, scary thoughts are a distraction

*The real concern behind over-reactive illogical thoughts must be determined.

* We must learn, through practice, to defuse the power of your obsessive thoughts.

*We must cultivate the insight to use logic and humor while restructuring scary, obsessive thoughts.

*Use "pause" rather than "stop" when dealing with obsessive thinking

*Thoughts are not necessarily facts

*We are not our thoughts

* Find the themes in your obsessive thoughts and address them

It was an eye opener for me to see that obsessive thoughts are a distraction.  For a long time now I've been an avoider of pain or conflict.  I hate both of them.  But, guess what!  They are both a part of life and I've got to learn how to better deal with the problems in life. It's important for me to remember that if my obsessive thoughts get worse, I need to stop and think, "What is going on in my life that I'm trying to avoid or distract myself from?"  I realize that I don't have a lot of problems in my life right now.  I have a wonderful husband, who I love more than anything, great family, great friends, great job, the list goes on...  But that doesn't mean that little things don't creep up.  I'm learning to have realistic expectations for myself and not try to control everything.  I'm learning to live in the moment, and that is sooooo hard for me to do.  Maybe I should take up yoga?!?  I'm learning that my anxiety comes and goes and I'm building the skills to better deal with it.  I refuse to let it ruin or control my life, so I live as if I don't have a problem.  But, I also don't want to completely ignore it, because that makes it all worse.  I'm just going to keep living day by day, learning, growing, and progressing.

-----JADE------