What I did today - for small achievements and cheers

[Killjoy75]

Well done tiger stronger than you think.

James just getting out of bed can be an accomplishment. Good on you mate

[Custard_cream]

^ Well done Mark! That is far!!

[spaceface]

I officially kicked my fear of commuting on the train in the ass. Now I just hop on and off trains like it's no big deal.

[flumpsy]

Thats really good spaceface, trains can be a real problem, especially london underground ones. You can pretend to read the adverts and stare at your shoes for a while but after a while you have to actually confront the reality of where you are and what is around you. By that time the doors are locked.

Whenever I have been on a train I come off hating the human race, people can be disgusting and so inconsiderate. All the habits and mannerisms seem much worse when your packed into a metal tube.

Today I re-found this place and actually told somebody about my SA. All in all pretty positive.

[Custard_cream]

Originally Posted by trumpsy

Today I re-found this place and actually told somebody about my SA. All in all pretty positive.

Well done trumpsy.


Today I went and sat in Costa coffee on my own and took a book with me and sat and drank a gingerbread latte and stayed there for 40 minutes. First time I have ever sat in a café alone. Was so anxious and my whole body was shaking and I felt like everyone was watching me, but I did it. Going to try it every lunch time now for the next few weeks.

[Z.]

^ Yay! Well done Em

[blancmange]

Well Done!

[flumpsy]

Really rough and odd few days for me but tomorrow I have arranged to go back in to work, I have an elevated but totally manageable anxiety. I am not going to think about it one more bit, just a normal day and back to work tomorrow. Normal service shall resume

[Custard_cream]

Originally Posted by Z.

^ Yay! Well done Em

Originally Posted by Dimplesxo

Well Done!

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Soulful_ear

Going to Leading Lights Social Anxiety Support Group. Honestly lots of the people looked like the typical person you would see on the street. It changed my perception a bit on how I see people on the street. I honestly think social isolation and using the internet for interaction mostly altered my view of people in general.

Well done.

Originally Posted by trumpsy

Really rough and odd few days for me but tomorrow I have arranged to go back in to work, I have an elevated but totally manageable anxiety. I am not going to think about it one more bit, just a normal day and back to work tomorrow. Normal service shall resume

Hope everything goes well at work tomorrow.

[blancmange]

Well Done Everyone

Earlier I took the dog for a walk and on the way to the car, my neighbour was there and said Hi. I usually do everything to avoid anyone but I managed to say Hi back.

[Custard_cream]

Originally Posted by Soulful_ear

^Thank you

Thumbs up for that, keep it up

Thank you

Originally Posted by Dimplesxo

Well Done Everyone

Earlier I took the dog for a walk and on the way to the car, my neighbour was there and said Hi. I usually do everything to avoid anyone but I managed to say Hi back.

Well done.


Today I have been to the small post office across the road to get a newspaper. I then hung the washing out and had a conversation with my new neighbour that must have lasted 5 minutes, I even went in his house to look at the new door and window to listen to the difference in noise. I didn't feel too much anxiety either.

[BritishPeace]

Found someone's dog wandering the street, got a lead and picked it up, found the owners about 30 mins later, they were looking for it. Went to peer-to-peer alcohol recovery before that.

[TTSP]

This is a bit of a weird one!

I was walking down a path and in the distance I could see three lads around 17-18 walking towards me. They were taking up the entire path so I moved to the very edge of the path near the road to give them plenty of space. As I was walking closer I could tell none of them were going to move and that I'd have to walk on the road to get past them. But for some reason I didn't, I just kept walking forward. I could tell they were challenging me and wanted me to back down. Within the last few feet one of them reluctantly (you could really tell it bothered him) went onto the road (rather than behind his mates...) and I walked straight through them and at the moment my heart was pounding!

It felt really good to stand up for myself, why shouldn't they share the path rather than force me onto the road?! I had a smile on my face all the way to the shops but I'm also glad it didn't get violent.

[flumpsy]

Well guys and gals, I made it in to work, finally. I am going to focus on normality for a bit now. Thanks for putting up with me haunting the forum over this last week/crash.

Unfortunately now that I am here I have to actually do a days work

[Sunshine Recorder]

So, I set myself a small challenge to get hold of a board game I'd like to play. I went into a small hobby store, and asked if they had this board game in stock. This may be trivial to some people, but I couldn't have even dreamed of doing this when I first joined SAUK. For some reason, going into a shop alone would make me too anxious to even open the door. Probably because I'd be the center of attention of the people selling stuff.

BTW, they didn't have the game, but the guy said that it would be in stock by Thursday. So, on Saturday, I'll hopefully buy a copy of it, and take it to a board game meetup. Then, I'll have to teach the rules of the game to other players, which is another ambitious challenge I'm setting myself.

[flumpsy]

Well done Dayvan Cowboy, I need to get out of the habit of buying every online. Choosing the right shop helps me, my feelings vary wildly depending on the size and style.

Now you have me in suspense, what was the game ?

[Coffee]

yes, what was it? also, well done

[Sunshine Recorder]

It was Samurai Spirit:

[flumpsy]

Just googled it, sounds really interesting Dayvan Cowboy, not often a totally original idea appears in game form. Mind you, the last game I bought was risk so I haven't really kept up

[Rocket Spud]

^ Well done, Nat

It takes a lot to push yerself into doing these things and it doesn't always work out. I need to start doing stuff like this, i never 'window shop' or do anything just to test myself. I'm kinda living a weird life where i only do the things that are necessary and that's all.

[incommunicado]

Started an anxiety group where i'm the only boy!
Was alright though, even had a coffee and biscuit.

[Focused]

^^^ very well done Nat!!

Well done too incommunicado

[blancmange]

Well Done Guys!

I managed to go out today I usually avoid certain times but I pushed myself to go at 6, feel pretty good about it.

[blancmange]

Thank you!

[newbs16]

Originally Posted by Nat36

Another day another exposure challenge.

Well, I have a friend who has opened a shop. She makes and sells candles and crafts etc plus honey as she has beehives around the area. She invited me to her shop today for a crafting session plus it is her birthday today. I had no further information other than that so said yes I'd go. There were 2 main fear elements to this challenge. The distance from my house and the potential for meeting other people (that I don't know). I decided to go on my bike as it is at least a 20 minute ride away so walking would take double that time (no quickly running home from that distance ) Plus this shop is also on the edge of the main town area which I haven't been to for a long time and would almost certainly be busy with shoppers.

Anyway at 1:30pm I set off. The cycle down was ok with plenty of "you're getting a long way from home" thoughts . I carried on to the shop at which point fear ramped up massively and I started having the usual "what if you can't make it home again on your own" thoughts lol

When I walked in the shop there were about 10 people in there in quite a small area Up went fear some more (can't run out now without looking like a weirdo lol ) In a perverse way that helped as I sat and waited it out for the fear to drop. It took a good hour to really feel anything remotely like being comfortable and it kept coming back in smaller waves. The bottom line is I managed to stay for 2 1/2 hours in total and chatted a little to people I didn't know I also managed to get myself home (by myself) in a reasonably calm manner with no panic rushing home.

Sorry for the long winded post but this is my biggest leap in progress so far and I did some very valuable retraining with this experience.

I'm going to start cycling that way more often and aim to start getting in town for some window shopping over the next few weeks

Well done, you really pushed yourself and you survived, amazing xx

[bluefairy]

Yesterday I went to the beach by myself and had a lovely time. I'm happy I'm getting to the point where I just do what I want without caring about what other people think.

I think it's a good idea when you are doing exposure therapy to pick something you would enjoy rather than doing something anyone would hate doing .

[Mo34]

^Yay. Well done Nat Great stuff.

Well mines more 'What I did this week' rather than today. Normally I only go out when I have to or to specific things that I have set myself to do towards helping sa (adult ed course for instance).

This week I went on Monday to adult ed course, chatted to ppl and pushed myself forward a bit more; instead of going straight home I travelled (well over 30 miles) to see my dad and spent some time there (plus doing errands for him as he's elderly). Left Tuesday& went early to an appointment (again a good 20/30 miles distance) and spent some time in Worthing 'mingling' and sitting on the pier. Wednesday I went to the dentist for the first time in ages and ages in a small town I didn't know, probably unthinkable a while back for me to do. Got stood up by 2 buses so was stuck there for over 2hours (didn't panic miraculously), got talking to 2 ppl who where also stranded by idiot bus service. Travelled back North to my counselling appointment which went very well and stayed night at my dads. Spent Thursday at my dads and went into town whilst I was there - went into a busy boots to hand in prescriptions (normally I would go to my local tiny chemist) felt panicked but stuck it out in a an enormous queue and went back to collect. Walked round the shopping centre and main street which was fairly busy.
Today travelled 20/30 miles south to an appointment, went into a shop to buy a cold drink and chatted with the till guy who for some weird reason was flirting/bantering with me. I amazingly didn't run for the hills and joked/flirted right back, was so caught up in that that I walked away without my change *doh* and he had to shout for me to come back, was weirdly very ok with it and had a laugh about it with him with other shoppers looking on. When I got back to my village/town forced myself into the local supermarket (a rather stuck up Waitrose). I have avoided going in for nearly a year and usually the very thought can start me off panicking. I love there garlic mayo though and don't shop in Waitrose usually, so went in and picked up a couple of jars, a few other bits and pieces and a tub of luxury choc ice cream as a treat for actually going out everyday this week.

All sounds a bit mundane I suppose, but normally I go out very little. Adult ed course when I can, MIND once a week and counselling once a fortnight and my dad as and when. So out and about everyday is a bit of a feat.
I do feel better for it. Today my mood has gone down but I think it is tiredness.

I finally start vol work for an animal sanctuary (after a very long delay) so hopefully this will add to helping me get out more. Though I guess I will have to see how it goes.

[Azalea]

Well done Mo and Nat.

[Custard_cream]

Well done Mo and Nat.



This is going to sound really pathetic but I actually cooked myself some tea, which was quite healthy too - which is good , because I've not even had the motivation to even eat most nights just recently.

[blancmange]

Great job guys!

About an hour ago I managed to go out and I went somewhere different! The last few days I have been feeling really crap but I managed to push myself to go to the woods with my Dog & Dad, it was completely empty and I only stayed about 10 minuets but I feel like its such an achievement as it was way out of my comfort/safe zone. It was so lovely and peaceful.