Nervous Girl

About three years ago, I wrote how the RI Method helped me to stop overeating in many situations. For about 16 years, not counting the time I was pregnant, I've maintained a 45 pound weight loss, followed by another 15 pound weight loss more recently. I decided to adopt a vegan diet in September of 2000, mainly for ethical reasons (being married to a vegan helped, too). As I read various books about veganism, I was shocked to learn how the vegetarian diet I had followed for several years did nothing to benefit the lives of farmed animals. Plus, I learned that a vegan diet also offered health benefits, specifically a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) vegan diet that eliminates processed foods such as flour, sugar, and oils. While I understood the benefits of embracing what's commonly called an "SOS-free" diet along, and steering away from refined food products, putting it into practice day in an out was difficult. I could eat this way for days or weeks until tempted by...

When I attended my first Recovery International meeting years ago, I was told that members give examples about nervous and physical symptoms that arise in relation to a nervous condition (i.e., depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc.). Even if I had a headache I could spot it was distressing but not dangerous if it was the result of getting worked up over a triviality.  Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to avoid any serious physical illnesses or ailments. However, in the last month or two, I've had some physical symptoms that could be nervous or could be truly physical in nature. I've been to the doctor a few times and she ordered some tests. Two of the tests I've completed so far turned out normal, which is wonderful. I have another test coming up soon. In the meantime, I find myself obsessing about what could be causing my symptoms.  When I first started experiencing these symptoms, I attended a few RI meetings (always good to do whether o...

It's been so long since I've posted here, but I'm still around. Sometimes I have an experience I think I should share here, but then I get busy and forget about it, and then when I think about it again, it seems too trivial to post here at all. But I guess that's the point about the RI Method: dealing with trivialities we experience on a daily basis. And boy, do I have my share of them as do we all. I'm still going to post about how I use the RI Method in my daily life, but I'm focusing on writing essays and incorporating how I use Recovery in the situations about which I'm writing. I suppose I've already been doing that at least some of the time, but I don't just want to post a list of spots as if I'm giving an example, because that's not my main goal of this blog. My goal or mission is to show the world how the Recovery Method works for all types of trivial, daily situations and even some not so trivial situations, too. I hope this will...

Lately, the attendance at my meeting has dropped. When I started my meeting, about 6 to 8 people attended. During the summer attendance dropped, but it increased again around Thanksgiving. This past year the pattern has remained the same -- sort of, anyway. Last night at my meeting, no one attended except me. I sat in the room, listening to the sound of silence and the occasional chirp of a cricket. After half an hour, I decided to go home. As I drove home, I had fearful thoughts. Maybe people didn't like my meetings, maybe the meetings were boring or I was boring, or they liked the other local meeting that takes place on a different night, or . . . and so on. Then I decided to come up with secure thoughts, thinking back to meetings I've attended for the last fourteen years. Attendance always ebbed and flowed, depending on the time of year (holidays, summer, spring break), the weather (too windy, too rainy, too hot), or any number of other variables in the outer enviro...

It's been ages since I posted here, but that's because I've been busy. I've thought about posting here and about what I might want to post, but I never got around to actually writing about anything. But now it's past midnight and I've got a million other things to do, so what do I do? Post something here. This past year has probably been one of the busiest years I've had since I first started attending RI meetings in 1999. I can't believe it's been 14 years. I'm working more hours now than I have since before I began RI (for a few years I didn't work at all, just attended RI meetings -- sometimes that is the best thing a person with severe nervous symptoms can do for herself or himself). Since graduating with a master's degree and starting part-time work, I've gone from working 5 hours a week to working 12 to 16 hours a week. My son is almost ten and he keeps me working, too. We just spent a day at the park with our homeschooling f...

Recently, I posted about people I've either met at meetings or in my personal life who insist that their symptoms are far worse than mine and use that as an excuse to tell me why RI wouldn't help them. After I had posted it, I realized I made a mistake and that it could be hurtful to those people and so deleted it. Instead, I'd like to offer encouragement to anyone who feels that they could not be helped by RI because it seems too "simple" or "easy" and uncomplicated in today's world of complicated solutions to our problems or that it's not working quickly enough for them. For many years I attended a meeting led by a very dear woman who often spotted at meetings that "Recovery is simple, but not easy." What that meant to me is that though the method itself is uncomplicated, it is not easy to spot on our symptoms because it requires a certain type of introspection that can be painful. It can be difficult to admit that our symptoms are a...

I started this post a while ago, but recently decided to overhaul my diet. I know I am not the first person to use RI to help control my eating habits, but I rarely hear anyone talk about it at a meeting, so I thought I'd share my ideas here. When I started attending Recovery meetings, I was at least 40 pounds overweight. I overate because of depression and anxiety and also as a result of the side effects of some medication. I wasn't exactly moving my muscles, either. After attending RI meetings for a month or so, I found myself in another program's meeting. At the break, a box of cheap cookies sat on the table next to the coffee. I eyed it. They weren't my favorite kind (oatmeal with icing), but suddenly, I felt hungry. I started to reach my hand toward the box and then I realized that I could control my muscles and not take the cookie. I could bear the discomfort of not eating the cookie. There was no danger if I did not eat that cookie, which I really didn't ...