Therapy Round 2: Session 1

I have the easiest homework I've had in years.
- Try a new sleep med.
- Try to focus on good sleep hygiene, with a routine of at least 30 minutes.
- Make a Gene-o-graph... (family graph, women are circles, men are squares, hehe0
- Think about my anxieties and disappointments/stressors as they occur this week

I think I like this intern quite a bit, she's very focused, and she is happy with my self-awareness. She's not past-oriented, which doesn't suit me anyway, so that's good. Very CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy). The doctor who has been prescribing my sleep meds felt it was time for a therapist's take too, but I beat her to that punch already. Which felt good. I like recognizing what I need before some random nurse practitioner does. The intern feels that the sleep issues are likely cumulative stress, and anxiety, and are resulting in a depressed mood. I prefer that take on things as well, and can agree with it.

Last semester severely inflated my fear of failure to panic attack inducing levels. I didn't fail, but it was much closer than it ever has been in my life and I felt entirely helpless and like my very best efforts were not enough. It was a terror-inducing chain of events, that lasted an entire semester. That's a pretty good way to kill motivation and activate anxiety. I was an official mess. Add to that my feeling like the dunce, the laggard, the outcast, and the worst of my department (which I'm not, but I FEEL like)... yeah, anxiety could be an issue. I regularly should all over myself as well, which leads to more anxiety and the cumulative stress issue.

I felt great about my first appointment, and like usual, just taking a proactive step helped the rest of the day get better. So here's to mental health, sleep, therapy, and conquering my silly demons. Bring it on.