The bus trip would end up being one big exposure response prevention (ERP,) a behavioral therapy that has one exposing oneself to the very fears that crippled them.
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When I got into recovery, I felt I no longer needed those Resolutions because I was committed to not dieting in eating disorder recovery.
I thought I was keeping myself and those I love safe by remaining hypervigilant. I was wrong. My two biggest fears, the ones that cause the most intrusive obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) thoughts, are being away from my girls and flying. Last month, I officially took a deep breath and did both.
Read MoreWhen I was a little girl, living on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia, I remember laying on our patio sunbathing in my sarong. The song We Are the Worldblasted out of the boombox and throughout our two-story house.
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There’s no judgment in the way we choose to live here because all of us have jumped the wall from what is considered the American dream with the white picket fence—with two cars in the garage to actually living our real dream of being free.
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As mental health advocates, owning our present struggles inspires more hope than implying, through omission, that we no longer experience struggle.
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“Do you know that Mommy experiences them (bad thoughts), too?” She nods yes. “Your sister does, too. So many people do. And there’s ways we can teach our brain how to deal with them. Did you know that?”
“No.” She says.
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Anxiety disorder is real. Many of us feel scared and stuck, which diminishes life experiences. I chose to take this bus trip so that I could expand my recovery and learn to rewire my brain by confronting the very thing I feared the most—which is feeling as if I have no control.
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“Why is it so expensive? Unless you’re coming in to clean our bus and turn down our bedding at night, I’m not paying it.” I know I’m not being gracious and I understand we are lucky enough to have the money to stay at such overpriced parks, but Oh, dear Lord, I don’t understand why anything to do with an RV could cost so much!
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