Trusting the process and yourself

Something that has made a big difference in my struggles with depression and anxiety recently is beginning to trust myself and my process. Dealing with and recovering from depression and anxiety is a long road. It is not a straightforward process and has many ups and downs. I have been through previous bouts of anxiety and depression and have developed strategies that help me. There are lots of techniques available that can help people with these problems. Not all will work and those that do will not work all the time. There is a lot of support available to people with these problems. Counsellors, medication, even friends and family and many more. Some of these will help at times and not at others. But the important thing is there will always be something which can help. And we can only deal with one problem at a time. When I am struggling I often find it overwhelming trying to deal with my problems. It feels like I am always going backwards and any progress I make is immediately swept aside. I can only see the negatives and the dark times and the worries and the fears. Once I begin to regain some perspective I can see the progress I am making and see improvements I am making. Seeing that progress gives me hope that I will get better. Once I start feeling that way I can get some momentum and progress gets quicker. What leads me into my problems is the development of bad habits in my thinking. Developing new habits to replace these takes a long time and lots of patience. Remembering that is key to doing so. There is not a magic wand that can be waved and I need to remember that. I have to trust the process that I go through. When I am struggling I doubt myself and my decisions and my thinking. Trusting my process is hard but doing it is what helps me get better and it is a positive cycle. Trusting the process and myself makes it easier to trust and therefore builds on the previous work. It is important for me that those around me understand this. I will doubt myself and my thinking and I need your help to believe in myself. However, I also will need you to challenge me at times as my thinking will become muddled with doubts. This isn’t about someone else knowing what is right for me but asking me how or why something is right. If I can’t explain my process and thinking that may be indicative that it is clouded. Looking at it from another perspective is a simple way of clearing my own head of doubts. I can usually manage to reassure others about myself and tell them the benefits of patience and trust better than I can myself. Having that support is key to trusting myself and my process. And when I do that I am on the road to recovery. It may not be an easy road but as long as I trust myself the setbacks do not force me off course. Every person who experiences anxiety or depression or other mental health problems will have their own process and ways of dealing with things. Finding what works for you and trusting yourself and your methods is key. That doesn’t mean using the same technique or strategy every time although that may work. New methods may be needed but trust the process that finds methods that work. If medication or counselling or therapy or meditation or any one of a hundred other things are something that works trust it and the thinking that led you to it. As long as you are taking positive steps you are using the process. Trust yourself to keep doing so and believe in your ability to do so. When you do so you can make the changes you want and life can improve. Trust yourself and believe in yourself. That is my message to myself and others. We will get there.