Taking care of you

[EscapeArtist]

Does anybody else see a connection between nurturing yourself and your social anxiety? Do you neglect to treat yourself? Do you nurture yourself? (Examples: cooking a nice meal, giving yourself the day off, exercising, eating well, making your room cozy, baths, lighting a nice candle, manicure, treating self to a nice film...)

Do you think that isolation may be a desperate attempt at taking care of, or protecting, yourself and/or the inner child inside of you because you do not nurture yourself enough? Have you seen a relation between the two? Is this an obvious question? Am I asking too many questions now? Lol...

What is one thing that you can do to show yourself that you care about yourself today?



I came upon a revelation today, that I treat my 'inner child' just as my parents did; I restrict, I criticize, and I expect too much. In a sense, isolation, (and over eating) is my only form of nurturing, however over-indulgent and contradicting that may have become... I realize than I am doing best when I nurture myself throughout the day in many ways so that I do not turn to over-nurturing in other areas, such as isolation, overeating. Both my overeating and isolation peak and ease-off together, depending on how I am taking care of myself. In December (1st to 28th) I thought I was cured. I realize now it is simply because I was taking good care of myself and nurturing myself a lot.

 

[honeydippedxo]

I definitely see a connection between the two. When I get up, shower, get dressed and have breakfast etc. I am much more likely to be more alert and happy through out my day. I become more motivated and positive. I actually get things done and I end up feeling proud of myself by the end of the night.

When I stay in bed for a little longer, I become lazy and depressed. I make an excuse not to do anything, keep pushing things off for later. And I just sit in bed being miserable all freaking day.

I know this and realize this! But I still have my days when I don't care for myself much even if the day before was so great.

And the thing about "treating yourself the way your parents did." woo I am so with you there. I have to constantly remind myself that I am not a kid any more, I'm grown and my parents opinion of who I am, who I was and who I should be, doesn't matter any more. I shouldn't let dumb things they've done or said to me consume my soul and make me think badly of myself.

It's hard seeing yourself as an adult when you've been a kid for so long. Time to take care of me and become who I want to be. One step at a time....I'm getting there.

 

[NathanielWingatePeaslee]

Anxiety --> Depression

Depression --> Not taking care of yourself, overeating.

:/

 

[JamesSmith]

Does anybody else see a connection between nurturing yourself and your social anxiety? Do you neglect to treat yourself? Do you nurture yourself? (Examples: cooking a nice meal, giving yourself the day off, exercising, eating well, making your room cozy, baths, lighting a nice candle, manicure, treating self to a nice film...)

Do you think that isolation may be a desperate attempt at taking care of, or protecting, yourself and/or the inner child inside of you because you do not nurture yourself enough? Have you seen a relation between the two? Is this an obvious question? Am I asking too many questions now? Lol...

What is one thing that you can do to show yourself that you care about yourself today?



I came upon a revelation today, that I treat my 'inner child' just as my parents did; I restrict, I criticize, and I expect too much. In a sense, isolation, (and over eating) is my only form of nurturing, however over-indulgent and contradicting that may have become... I realize than I am doing best when I nurture myself throughout the day in many ways so that I do not turn to over-nurturing in other areas, such as isolation, overeating. Both my overeating and isolation peak and ease-off together, depending on how I am taking care of myself. In December (1st to 28th) I thought I was cured. I realize now it is simply because I was taking good care of myself and nurturing myself a lot.

"I think you're on to something here." -Seinfeld
Really though, I do think there are many similarities to us and children. The main one being that we are socially immature compared to our outgoing peers. The reason we hide is because we are afraid. I'm not sure if nurture is the right word for that, I'd say it's either fear or anxiety. It's safe to hide in our homes away from people, so many of us do that. So yes, we are protecting ourselves like you say.

As for the other stuff, I can't really relate. I don't have a eating disorder, I don't criticize myself very much if at all. I guess I expect things of myself, but nothing I can't achieve. If anything, I have lower expectations than the average person.

If you are spending most of your time alone you definitely aren't cured of SAD. It sounded like you were saying that in your post, i could be wrong?

 

[Pacific_Loner]

EscapeArtist, yes I think there is definitely a link. There is even a difference with superficial things like if I fixed my hair or not. And definitely a big difference with if I open the curtains and windows or not, and if I clean my apartment and make it cozy or just leave it messy. I am not sure why though. I think it helps me to think more clearly.

If you are spending most of your time alone you definitely aren't cured of SAD. It sounded like you were saying that in your post, i could be wrong?

Hmmm... I don't think you are right about this.... some people just enjoy being alone, and if they work alone or at home and they live alone they will be spending most of their time happily alone, but will still be ok when seeing people... According to you anyone who spend most of his/her time alone would have SAD? Or maybe I misunderstood you.

 

[JamesSmith]

Hmmm... I don't think you are right about this.... some people just enjoy being alone, and if they work alone or at home and they live alone they will be spending most of their time happily alone, but will still be ok when seeing people... According to you anyone who spend most of his/her time alone would have SAD? Or maybe I misunderstood you.

Oh, that was my fault, I wasn't clear enough on what I was trying to say. What I meant was if you spend most of your time away from work alone, then you aren't cured from SAD. Yes, some people work at home so I could see them spending a lot of time there. It's the time when you aren't working that I'm talking about.

 

[Psychedelicious]

No one did understand

Never the mind