Learning To Be Comfortable In My Own Skin

This is me, continuing to push myself. I am trying to get more comfortable in my own body, especially with my legs. I deserve to be comfortable in my own skin and I’m working on reaching that goal. Normally, I don’t even feel secure enough in my own body, even when I’m home alone, so I almost always wear pants. However, I’m trying to become a bit more comfortable with myself. Over the past few days, I have been wearing pajama shorts around the house and while on walks. I need to become more secure with myself.

I’m posting these pictures of my legs that I took yesterday. I need to become comfortable walking around the house and the neighborhood in shorts. I also need to become comfortable knowing that these pictures are out there. And like yesterday’s post, I know that people are not focusing on me and my legs. I’m not the center of attention (thankfully).

I’m Thinking About Joining A Martial Arts Class

I’m thinking about joining a martial arts class once I’m finished moving. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. It will help me get in shape, feel more secure, gain some self confidence, and let out some of the aggression that I keep all bottled up. I used to do martial arts, and I loved it. The only reason that I stopped was because I was having knee and hip troubles. My husband worries that that problem could occur again, but I think it’s worth the risk. If the issue does arise, I can always stop the classes.

Quote by Jim Rohn

“There are two ways to face the future. One way is with apprehension; the other is with anticipation.” – Jim Rohn

You can either face the future with fear or confidence. I do my best to have confidence, but my anxiety often takes over causing apprehension. All that matters is that I keep trying and don’t give up. The confidence will come in time.

Managing My Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is hard to maintain, whether you have any mental health disorders or not. I can’t say how it is for those that don’t, but for me, a woman with bipolar 1 and PTSD, it is really hard to keep up my self-esteem. I tend to blame myself for anything that goes wrong or even slightly incorrect. On top of the every day reasons for my low self-esteem, I even blame myself for my mental health disorders.

Self-esteem is described as respect and confidence in your own abilities. I don’t feel as if I have any good abilities, never mind having any confidence in them. I tell myself to think more of myself and to believe in myself, but it’s easier said than done. I know my family would say something different. It’s easier to see things in other people than it is to see things in yourself.

I’m such a perfectionist, so when I don’t do something perfect, I get down on myself. For example, when I graduated college, I had a 3.94 GPA. All I could think, and still think, is that it’s not a 4.0. I should have had a 4.0. I know that these emotions are unreasonable, but most emotions with bipolar disorder are unreasonable.

I do the best that I can, I have positive influences in my life, and I am appreciative for others (such as my friends and family), but it still doesn’t help me to feel better about myself. I need to find an emotional purpose.

Telling Myself To Be Positive

Vacation continues to go well. My sister, her husband, and their kids left. It was great to see all of them, we had a wonderful visit. That leaves just me and my mom! That’s my favorite part. We can do anything or nothing together and we always get along, everything with the two of us is always simple. We got my weekly blood work done this morning and informed the pharmacy that they should be receiving my blood work results soon. My mom helped me get the courage to go in and talk to the pharmacist, and it all worked out perfectly.

During lunch, one of the things we talked about was how I struggle to say ‘no’ to anyone. She pointed out that I said no to a couple of things such as no more ECT treatments and no to IV Ketamine treatments. It’s so difficult for me to say no; I can’t do it without an anxiety attack. My mom suggested that instead of saying I can’t say no, say “I haven’t been able to say no very often” or “I have not yet perfected the art of saying no”. My mom always has a great perspective and input.

I know that when I say things in a negative manner, it makes that part of life harder. If I work at saying things in a positive way, it helps me actually be positive. I’m going to work at saying these things along with other positive thinking.

Standing By My Decision – I Actually Did It!

I was very nervous about my psych appointment yesterday; I was so nervous that I even had an anxiety attack. I’m not used to telling anyone what I want, especially when it’s different from others want. Standing up for my own desires is nerve-wracking for me. I prepared for my psych appointment yesterday by writing down exactly what I wanted to say. I told my psychiatrist that I wanted to stop ECT because it has become too hard on my body and my mind. I’ve been doing ECT for close to a year and a half, and I just can’t take it anymore. I explained my reasons and to my surprise, he was okay with my choice. He explained that he respects my choice; I couldn’t ask for more than that. I’m very happy with the outcome of that appointment.

He gave me several options about what we could do moving forward. He told me I probably wouldn’t like a couple of the options, but he was going to mention them anyway. I’m glad he did mention them (without any pressure). It was nice to see all of my options at once, even though I didn’t like most of them. Together, we decided to slowly increase my Clozapine up to 400mg a night. We will increase the dose by 25mg each week until we reach our target goal of 400mg. We are increasing slowly to hopefully avoid some negative side effects such as dizziness, fevers, and drowsiness. It will take two months to reach our goal. I will see him in three months. This gives me time to get to the target dose and then allow my body to adjust to the dose for a while. I’m really hoping that this change will help. The Clozapine has helped quite a bit so far, I have a feeling that it will continue to help.

My husband pointed out to me that this is the first time that I made my own decision regarding my mental health, and stuck by it. He was proud of me. To be honest, I’m proud of myself. I know it sounds a little ridiculous to be so happy about this decision, but it’s a huge step for me.

Insecure, Insignificant, and Worthless Feelings

Going out, whether it’s for fun or to get things done, can be very difficult. I like to isolate, I prefer to be by myself. I’m also extremely hard on myself. Whenever I go out, I have to get dressed, and that is always a reminder of my weight gain. Due to my bipolar, my weight has fluctuated over the years. Right now, I’m gaining weight, which makes me feel bad about myself. Weight gain really messes with my self-confidence. When I stay home, I don’t have to worry about other people judging me; I only have to worry about my own judgments, which is hard enough.

Everyone judges themselves, especially women, but I take it too far and let my thoughts interfere with my activities. I wish it was something that I could fix. If I’m not self-conscious about my weight, then it’s something else. I’m always going to find some way to judge myself. All women struggle with confidence, but not everyone lets those fears and thoughts interfere with their lives. Actually, everyone struggles with confidence, it’s not just women.

I’m not so sure how to get past these insecurities and fears. I’m not sure if I can handle some of the activities that I’ve been asked to do. Not all of my insecurities are due to my weight. I’m also terrified to go to large public events. I have anxiety attacks when I feel trapped and when I’m surrounded by people. There’s something coming up that my husband wants me to go to, and it does sound like fun, as long as I’m going with him. My husband is like my security net, he makes me feel safe no matter where I am. However, we’re not sure if he can go to the event because of work. I tried to explain to him how difficult it would be for me to go without him or with anyone else, but I’m not sure if he understands. I know that he really just wants me to get out of the house more and do healthy things; however, there is a big difference between trying more things and pushing yourself too far.

I wonder all the time if I’ll ever have my old life back; the life where I enjoyed going out to public events and I could manage my life without too many problems. I just want to feel free again; instead, I feel trapped by my fears and insecurities. I’m not sure if I will have that freedom again, but I’m still trying. I feel as if I’m wearing masks to cover up my feelings of insecurity, insignificance, and worthlessness. I pretend to feel good about myself, even when I don’t. I may feel bad about myself, but at least I know that those thoughts are not really accurate. I know that I’m better that I believe myself to be, I just wish I could really believe in myself. Hopefully I will one day, but until then, pretending to be okay is better than nothing at all.

My Side of the Pole

Bipolar – Mental Health

Tag: Self-Confidence