The mind is the enemy

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Cate, your post made me smile and then smile some more! Tonight my distraction was a jigsaw puzzle. I started working on it right after dinner and then all of a sudden it was ten pm and time to get ready for bed. I'll admit that I had more than one dessert, but at least I wasn't laying in bed while I ate them. I haven't heard of that author, I'll have to look him up. I'm bad about only reading self help books or Stephen King books, neither of which are remotely light and fluffy.

Oh, and thanks for the pattern, it'll be fun to design my own positivity hat. I'm fond of bright colors and flowers, I've got some ideas :)
 
:hug2: My emotions have been all over the place lately as well.. It hurts and it stinks!

**Hang in there!** :grouphug:

The next time I'm out, I'm picking up coloring books/crayons/map pencils and so on.. LOL ... I read an article the other day about how that can truly make you (adults) unwind, stop a panic attack/high stress levels and improve mood quickly. All kinds of other benefits were mentioned. I will try to find it and send it to ya.
I just knew I should have bookmarked it asap but I was multi-tasking and forgot! lol :rolleyes:

:seeya: So glad to be back here! ** I have missed y'all! ;)
 
I'm glad I made you smile. Alexander McCall Smith is as far removed from Stephen King as is possible. Start with the No1 Ladies detective series & if you like that, read them in order. Jigsaws and/or colouring in can also be very therapeutic, but I love reading a book that takes me to a different place, both metaphorically & physically.
I forgot to put my hat on before I got out of bed this morning. Whoops! I have it on now :)
 
Hi Stacy! I actually picked up an adult coloring book on Friday and immediately started working on it. It definitely calmed me down temporarily, and it kind of gave me an excuse to say out loud that I was dealing with anxiety, which seems to help diffuse tension sometimes. [Please note that by 'saying it out loud' I mean holding up the book and shouting defiantly "I'm working on my anxiety!" when asked if I was going to get dressed so we could go pick up our dinner.]
 
So glad to hear! :seeya: :hug2:

I'm looking forward to picking out my books and stuff! lol

2015 was just HORRIBLE for me re: major issues with my parents.. (98% re: my father that has disowned me..) I could write a book on my screwed up childhood and problems that have led into my adult life but I'm trying sooooo hard to just FORGIVE and FORGET and just move on.. I have such rejection issues that cause most of my mood swings, crying fits and plain ole panic attacks/depression..

I really do understand!! ;)
 
Great job working on your anxiety - and using your words to explain why you´re not dressed/out and about.
 
Cate, I missed your post yesterday! I'll definitely check out those books, I need to utilize my commuting time better so that might be a good option for me. I take a bus and usually end up mindless surfing the internet but I know I feel much more calm when I focus in on books.

Stacy, let me know when you end up with! Mine is 'a coloring book for adults featuring mandalas and henna inspired flowers, animals, and paisley patterns.' If I had to choose again I'd go with pure mandalas, but this is a huge step up from the country scenes book I bought a while back, which turned out to be more stressful than it is therapeutic, haha. I'm so sorry to hear what you've been going through, hopefully you find lots of ways to find peace in 2016.

Thanks, LaMa! I just remembered how you said that even the best masseuse isn't a mind reader. Same is true for our partners in life, right? He can't know what's going on if I don't tell him, and I definitely tend to run away when I'm in a mood.
 
Monday morning, we meet again. Weekend highlights below.

Friday: Ate too many cookies, but they were delicious. We have catered lunches on Fridays and I don't think we've had these cookies before. I had one, went back for a second, and ate a third a few hours later. I don't necessarily regret it. Also got a large BLT for dinner with the intentions of saving some for Saturday but it was also especially delicious so I ate the whole thing instead.

Saturday: 8.5 mile run. Focused on heart rate, and kept it slow enough to where I felt like I could keep going for a lot longer. Had a few pieces of G's leftover pizza afterwards, which I had avoided the night before. Didn't eat too bad other than that. Popcorn for a nighttime snack. Oh, right, I let myself fall asleep on the couch so then I was wide awake when I actually went to bed. Ate some chocolate covered cherries after I got back out of bed, which was definitely not because I was hungry.

Sunday: Food prep for the week included making four mason jar salads (cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, red pepper, lettuce), and also making some individual containers of carrots to take to work.

New recipes: Everything bagels (made by G) and oat milk (made by me). Successes all around.

Favorite grocery store find: Coconut almond date rolls. Ingredients consist solely of dates, coconut, and almonds. 1 is 80 calories, and was enough to satisfy my post-meal sweet cravings.

Noticeably absent: Non-cardio exercise.
 
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I'm sitting here in the waiting room stressing out about seeing the doctor. I giggled in silence until my eyes teared at your coloring book post. I so want to shout that right now! I went outside and worked on building a bench in the dark with the temperature in the 20s. That's what that was about too.

Thanks for the inadvertent support! Nice run Saturday!
 
I'm a thirty year old child, Q. And I'm guessing in ten years I'll just be a forty year old child. There are worse things, right? :) Glad I could be of service to you in your time of need!
 
Being a 40 year old kid isn't so bad. I've always felt that people passionate about the natural sciences never lost their sense of wonder. In other words being a kid is part of what makes me seem so grown up. All of the technical jargon and Latin are just hiding the fact that we are outside playing. Suckers!
 
I think the only difference between adults and kids is the ability to look ahead and take (more) responsibility. The rest is just the difference between boring people and interesting ones :Angel_anim:
 
LaMa that is amazing! And all the British slang, I love it. Can't wait to hold up my coloring book and shout defiantly that "I'm working on my anxiety, you twat waffle!" That's double the anxiety relief, right there.
 
I might just have to get one of those too!
Edit-I would have if it didn't have the C word. I know it's just a word, but it's the only one that really makes me cringe.
I really laughed at you calling out "I'm working on my anxiety!"

 
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Cate, I totally agree with you on the C word. That, and the P word (meow). I couldn't say those out loud if I was paid to.
 
Food/exercise log for Tuesday, just for kicks.

S: Energy gel with caffeine (because sprints at 6 am are hard)
E: 4.25 mile run, average pace 9:49
B: Homemade bagel with cream cheese + banana
L: Chicken caesar wrap (wasn't even good, won't make that mistake again. I had a perfectly good homade salad in the fridge that I opted out of.)
S: Homemade smoothie (why don't I drink more smoothies??)
S: Mocha Almond Kind bar (for my chocolate fix)
D: Salad with corn, jalapenos, cucumbers, chicken, avocado, etc. Dressed at first with salsa and then I added sour cream when the jalapenos started making me sweat.
S: Date roll (80 cals) + dark chocolate covered dried cherries (sneaky)
 
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