Step into my office....

 So, today I wanted to share a little bit more of my story when it comes to anxiety ad help to try to remove the stigma that going to therapy has. Not only am I’m going to share more of my story but I’m going to share some of the tips and tricks my therapist gave to me. You can send a thank you letter to Tricare, since this info comes at the low price one hundred dollars an hour! Now, let’s begin.

A while back I shared my story of having GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). You can read all about that here. I have officially been in therapy for over a year, and let me tell you it has been the best decision for me. Therapy isn’t for everyone, but it worked wonders for my anxiety. At some points in my life, I honestly thought I was crazy. Even with medication I felt self-conscious because I thought that medicine made me seem weak. I mean, if I can’t even figure out how to get out of bed in the morning, how will I be able to make anything out of my life. It wasn’t until I went to my first visit with a psychologist that I thought any different.

I’m not sure if anyone out there is familiar with therapy but before you even get assigned a therapist, in most cases, you get sent to your friendly neighborhood psychologist! In my case, I went to see the amazing Dr. E.  We did the typical “why are we here” type chat but my favorite part of the session was when we were walking out of his office. He gave me a hug and told me not to worry and that I wasn’t crazy. It was seriously the greatest thing I’ve heard in my life.  After a series of tests, he set me up with my AMAZING therapist and a psychiatrist to figure out some sort of medication until I could get on my feet.

For over a year I was on a few different types of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication. This time frame was from February 2011 in Georgia to August of 2012 in North Carolina. I’m a firm believer that there is NO shame with needing help via medication, but in my case I decided to use it only as a tool and not a crutch. My medication along with therapy really helped me get to a “happy place”. Through therapy I was given tools that really made me need less and less of my medication. I am SO proud to say that as of August 2012, I haven’t been on any sort of medication. It was a personal goal for me to get off of my medication while Matthew was on deployment and really work through my issues.

I found some great visuals that I’m going to share with you guys that are very close to what I learn in therapy week after week. So here we go:

                                                         http://www.innerflowcounselling.com/

I was actually introduced to this as “Square Breathing”. I would complete the steps four times and by my last round I would be completely calm. When I get really overwhelmed or in the middle of a panic attack I would seriously just lay in the middle of the floor and do my breathing. I was once doing my “Kim Kardashian Cry” for a solid ten minutes because I just couldn’t stop. I sat on the floor, starting my breathing and by the time I got to my last round I had completely stopped crying. Not to mention, this technique is just super relaxing.

                              http://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/articles/coping-statements-for-anxiety/

A BIG issue for me was worrying. I’d have very irrational thoughts  and “what ifs” that stem from my worrying about simple things. An example, I narrowly missed face planting down the stairs. In reality, I only fell down a single step but it doesn’t just end there for me. For me, that one event made me have twenty minutes of irrational thoughts. This is the best recreation of what went on in my head….what if I fell all the way down the stairs…I could’ve broken my leg….we’re moving soon! I can’t have a broken leg…I’m losing my insurance when we move…we’d have to pay so much money…. my leg wouldn’t just be a broken leg…. it’d have to be surgical because that’s just my leg. This would seriously go on until I either have chest pains or end up in tears. It’s awful. This picture is very similar to what I talk about in therapy. I try to address the irrational thoughts head on. First I know that the situation is highly unlikely, and second it was only one step and I’m fine. I try not to “push” the thought aside because they tend to come back worse than ever before, so I talk myself through it. It’s a little silly because if I’m alone I literally have to give myself a little pep talk and point out that it’s an irrational thought. It goes something like “Okay Karen, that is irrational....it is just a negative thought and in a few minutes it’ll be completely gone”. Then I try to do something like read a chapter or two of a book, text a friend, or just something to move on from the thought.

Once I’m more confident that other tips I have work, I’ll be posting them as well. But, for right now those are my anxiety tips for the week. One thing I’ve learned is that having anxiety isn’t the issue most people face, including myself. It is how to DEAL with the anxiety that determines your fate. It’s a scary thing, not to give into my urges or challenging my anxiety.  But, I choose to fight it and face it head on. I hope you all will too.

Moving: Part 2

This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to moving. When I was eighteen, I moved from Indiana to Florida. Later that same year, I moved to Georgia. Then, when I was nineteen we moved to North Carolina. Now, at twenty we are moving to Louisiana! All of my previous moves were done without movers. Needless to say, I am ecstatic about having a moving company this time around.

One downside to having a moving company move your things over different states is that you get to the destination way before your things do in most cases. We are swinging by South Carolina on the way home and still have a handful of days before the trucks with our belongings. I'm sort of excited because it reminds me of when we when we hard hardly anything in our first apartment and we slept on an air mattress. We are taking a few things with us in the car and truck with us that we will need and things that are irreplaceable. These are things like our wedding box, individual memory boxes,  photos and the contents of our safe. Hopefully all of those items, along with my wedding dress will go in the truck.

We also need some essentials since we want to stay in the new house immediately. I will be taking a "kitchen" box full of just basic things we can use like; a single skillet, plates, bowls, cups and utensils. I actually bought a set of bowls, plates and cups at Walmart that were four a dollar to bring since they won't break and are easy to clean. Then we can save them for summer BBQs!

Then, I'm just taking whatever pantry items the movers won't move. Any open bag or container they will not move, I know, bummer. We are also throwing in some pantry items that we can cook without needing an entire kitchen set up. It seems like a lot of hassle, but unlike when we moved the first time, we will be on a strict budget that means we won't be able to go out to eat or order take out until our things arrive.

We will also be bringing our trusty air mattress and a few linens  in a space safer. Luckily, we also have  a small TV that we're bringing to watch movies since we wont have cable either. Aside from our toiletries and clothes, the only other things coming with us personally are the animals, their supplies and the "no pile" from the movers. The no pile with have things that the movers can't  move like a propane tank and air sol cans. So far the moving process has been pretty smooth, the hardest part being trying to deal with transferring our security system. Curse you ADT! Tomorrow the moving company is coming to start packing up, so I'll keep everyone posted about how that goes. Please pray for us, as it is a very stressful time! Keep a look out for part 3!

Parker's Birthday Present!

I'm sure you can guess by my past posts, I love being an aunt. The best part of being an aunt is spoiling your nieces and nephews rotten. I've been an aunt since I was in kindergarten, since I am the youngest girl on my fathers kids. I have three nieces and two nephews, so by the time Parker came around I was a seasoned pro. It also helps that up until last month, he was my only nephew or niece that lived in the same city as me. My favorite thing to celebrate with Parker is his birthday. He was born April 22nd and made quite a dramatic entrance into the world a month early. I decided this year I was going to make Parker his own book full of people that love and miss him. It works out because he can "read" it himself too. So armed with a "book" kit from a craft store dollar isle, card stalk, mod podge and my silhouette machine, I made it happen. This is what I came up with.

I wanted to make the cover something that Parker could identify and that was still personal so I decided to do trains since he is really into Thomas right now.

I tried to make it very "Dr. Seuss" and tried my take on rhyming. Here is what it says on the inside. Now that you live so far away, here are some people who miss you every day! Its easier to see in person.

Then I made a "page" for every person in my house back home who loves Parker.

I was honestly stumped on the ending so I just settled for putting: You are so loved"

Then the back is just a personalized "property of" design.

I thought this idea was great because for the fist time since he's been born that he doesn't have any of us living by him. We also wanted to get him something he could play with now so we picked up one of these bad boys

Like I said before, he is really into Thomas so I hope he loves playing with it especially since it's warm out now so he can play with it indoors or outdoors. But there you have it, Parker's birthday present. What is even better is that we will be able to give it to him just a few days after the actual day of his birthday since we will be going through South Carolina on our way home. I'll be posting a video of his reaction, hopefully, so stay tuned!

It's Finally April!

Moving is possible the most stressful thing Matthew and I have ever done. A deployment has nothing on trying to do a military move. First off, the move this month will be our second military move so we decided to change it up a bit and go with a TMO move.  Our version of a TMO move will include movers coming to pack up our entire home, and move it to the new house in Louisiana. Yep, I’m not lifting a finger. Why did we decide on a TMO move this round? We did a “Do It Yourself” military move the first time around, and lets just say we will never do that again. I know, I know….Never say never. But we moved with a weeks notice, with hardly any help besides with the washer and dryer, and it. was. awful.

Google Images

However, things will be a little different this time around. We actually took our TMO class this week and scheduled a day for our movers to come. Eeeeeek! It’s getting so real. The military requires service members to take a class in order to schedule a move. Basically, it is just a do’s and don’ts review for moving. There are different types of moves for different service members. There are different things someone needs to know for changing duty station, retiring, or just moving back to their hometown after the military. The class was actually super helpful and the process of “setting up” the move is really easy. We were even able to pick our own moving company, which I was glad for because my sister had an amazing experience with her moving company so we wanted to use the same people.

I’ll be posting more of our experience with a moving company when the time comes. So, with not having to pack a single box…what will I be doing to prepare? The main thing in any move, military or not, is organization. Some people like a fancy binder with many slots, but this move I was content with a bright folder. I vamped it up a bit with fun letters.

My friend Becky has turned me into a list person. So, that’s another thing that I did. I made a “North Carolina”  todo list. I’ll make another list for Louisiana, which will be so much smaller. I’ve printed off my list and keep it in the folder to highlight when I complete each task. I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten a lot done so far! Here is just part of our  todo list.

The TMO class gave us a lot of information on what they can and cannot pack up in the moving trucks, so I’ll be putting those items aside. So that sheet went in the folder, along with information about how to file claims if something is broken during the move. Also in the folder is our move out cleaning list for our rental. There are some things that need to be purchased like flea spray since we have animals, and we needed proof of purchase so all of our receipts go into the folder too.

This time around we are splurging. Since we are moving into  a house where we won't have to deal with the hassle of a deposit and first months rent type of situation, we are paying for someone to come do a move out clean. I am so thankful for that, especially since we are moving in the middle of a school term. A cleaning service isn't for everyone, but I am certainly not one to say no to someone else cleaning my house! I'll give more information on how that when everything is all said and done.



The beauty about us moving back to Matthew's
hometown is that we already know our address!
So, I ordered these cute little things!
They are change of address postcards with our new address and a fun message from us on the back. It was a fun way of letting loved ones know our new address and for me to get excited rather than anxious about the move!









I can't wait to share more about our moving process with everything! We're just a few short weeks away so I'll be sharing how I'm preparing and the process of all of it. Until next time!