The next step

I'm currently working on the second chapter of my Breaking Free: A Recovery Workbook for Facing Codependence, as well as session three of the Attacking Anxiety program. Both work on issues of self-esteem and negative behavior or inner dialog.

For example, I set myself up for failure by saying such things as "Do my readers really care? Should I even post this? Nobody wants to read about what I'm going through, and I'm feeling anxiety just trying to type all this out." That's negative inner dialog.

So, I replace that thought with compassionate inner dialog by saying something like "I'm writing this because it feels good and is therapeutic for me. What others think doesn't matter, what matters is that it helps me. And it may even help some of my readers, and they may understand and relate."

Just doing something simple like that helps a lot with relieving the anxiety before it spirals into a panic attack.