What a week!!! First of all I just wanted to say that my son was able to attend school for the last three days of the week!!! It made me ecstatically happy because our hearts are connected and when he is in pain so am I.I am determined to do my best to help him through this and he has so many loving, caring and wise grown ups( professionals and other friends, including you all) in his corner. Having gone through the agony of social phobia and shyness myself anything I can do to help him through this I will do.I want to thank all of you who have expressed concern and good wishes for his healing. You concern and support are greatly appreciated. I feel extremely optimistic that with everyone behind him he will be able to move from this difficult time in his life to a long period of happiness and success!!!Being in the swing of things!! On a personal note, I have reached new heights in my fight against social phobia and shyness. All week opportunities have come up to socialize with people, listen to their expressed feelings and thoughts and respond in positive, warm ways. When confronted with situations I have avoided in the past, I focus and ask myself what is your ultimate goal? This reminds me that I what to make friends with many people and have positive and mutually respectful encounters with the others. This keeps me staying in situations, using proper social skills and responding as appropriately as I can muster at the moment. This week I respond to a variety of situations from work place co workers expressing their grief on the lose of love ones; to others feeling free to tell me their "secrets and hidden feelings"; to other friends telling me about the break up of their relationship; to even successful managing small talk wherever I went, and in diverse situations. I did not avoid many situations at all!!!I even stayed in an embarrassing situation! The circumstances were that I was exhausted after working a 12 hour shift. I had agreed to come to a spiritual meeting that our leader said was important to attend because we had some serious issues to discuss. I was so tired at the meeting that I could not stay awake and kept drifting off and was useless as a participate. Well I am glad I persisted in staying through the meeting even though it was embarrassing to me. Our leader told us that his long marriage is over and he does not know where we will be meeting from next week on.My heart went out to him when I heard this especially since he is close to eighty years old!!! I think he appreciated my words of comfort. It was worth not looking perfect to others in terms of helping a friend in a terrible situation.Thanks for reading my journal!!!wishing friendship, peace and love to everyone, Ida.
Replies
Ida, you are making huge steps in recovering from your social phobia. I continue to admire you. Hugs, Joan
Wow, I am truly amazed at your progress in such a short time. You really should be very proud of yourself. I\'m very proud of you. You\'re doing great! Attitude is everything. Major hugs to you and your son. ~Oli
Thank you so much for this, Ida! I am SO glad your son is doing better, now! All of you are in my thoughts and prayers! I hope you have an awesome night! Please take great care of yourself and yours! BIG peace to you!
Meg
Wow. You\'re doing awesome. I\'m proud of you :)
i\'m so very proud, and happy to hear of your\'s and your son\'s wonderful progress. Each experience, we can learn so much! We can gain so much confidence! You both are on the right path! lots of emotional moments, but you and your son, made it through each experience! You both, are an inspiration to many of us. :)
Thank you, for sharing the stories of succees, and pure will, and determination. :)
Hi Ida. Just catching up on journals and was very pleased to see this one! I am so happy your son is back at school. As a mother, I know how our children affect our own happiness.
And you are certainly making great strides yourself! I love the way when confronted with a situation, you remind yourself of your ultimate goals and you follow through. I\'m so proud of you. BIG HUGS! You\'re doing great!
Ida, I am so glad your son has you to guide and help him through his problems with social phobia. I wish I had known someone(when I was young) who was going(or had gone through)social phobia, it would have really helped me back then to know that I wasn\'t alone with my problems.