The Plan January 17, 2005
Mark has kind of outted my plan, so I feel I should explain its origins somewhat.
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone when I say that for a while now I have not been the happiest of campers. There are a million and one reasons I could give for it, but at the end of the day its origins are largely irrelevant. It just is what it is.
I’ve considered and, very briefly tried, medication, but it freaked me out far too much and the idea now scares the hell out of me, so it’s not an option for me right now.
I got some professional assistance late last year, which was good, but I realised that everything this person was telling me was stuff I already knew about how to deal with this and that talking to him wasn’t making me do any of it.
So I was having a kind of a mexican standoff with myself. I wouldn’t take the pills and I wouldn’t make any of the behavioural changes that are supposed to help, so things weren’t really going anywhere much. I realised this the other day and decided that I had to do something to break it and start taking it all much more seriously. Make it so important that I simply had to do it. And it needs to be reasonably simple.
I decided simply to be busy. No lying in bed after the alarm has gone off, no veging in front of the telly. Have list of little things and make an effort to do one or two of them in the evenings after work and a few more of them on the weekends.
The aim is gradually to build a sense of accomplishment and control from these little tasks and have that flow on to the rest of my life. I expect it will be slow and that it won’t always work, but I figure that, even if it never goes any further than this, having a plan is better than not.
that sounds like a very good plan
I think it is a very good plan although it was not my intention to out anything just to comment on a plan being much better than no plan.
Someone once told me that the antidote to despair was action.
It’s nice to have a plan.
It can always be adjusted if required.
Good luck with it.
doing stuff is an excellent way to steadily make you a happier camper - take care
I hope your knitting is part of the plan. There’s nothing like the sense of achievement you get creating something. I always find it helps anyway. Don’t let the plan tie you down, as CB says. Just let it be the road out.
not letting the plan tie me down is the reason that it is simply to be busy.
I can be busy reading a book, knitting, playing with Finn, scrubbing the bathroom or digging up the garden. It can be anything, as long as it’s not lying in bed moping, or sitting watching tv programs I’m not interested in.