August 22nd, 2018 Strange Thing

August 22nd, 2018 Strange Thing

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support.

I didn't sleep well last night. I had an episode of anxiety and panic attacks. Anyone that's ever suffered from these, you know they can come on seemingly out of nowhere. There's usually a reason--something uncertain, something generating fear and usually irrational levels of fear.

I remember going through a period of these for about a year during my standup comedy days. It would hit me every single time I was about to be announced. Heart pounding, shortness of breath, the works... and somehow, I'd pull it together and make it through the set. The first burst of laughter usually calmed me down quickly. How would the audience respond? The uncertainty created the fear. As I became more confident in my approach--and less worried about the response--more of just doing my thing, they subsided. The more I worked through them the less they were a thing until one day they simply stopped.

Deep breathing...calming thoughts...it's going to be okay...this is going to go better than expected... the same practice and similar thoughts used back then, I used last night-- It didn't allow me to rest very well until somewhere in the middle of the night. I decided I needed a personal day from work--so I burned a vacation day and stayed in bed.

I felt better as the day progressed. Stange thing, that attack--just overwhelmed me, was exhausting--but I'm feeling so much better now.

I took care of my food plan today and as the opening "today" part of this blog states, I stayed connected with fantastic support contacts. My food schedule was a little bit tilted with a late dinner--but it wasn't too uncommon for me.

Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean