After the cruise. ( a reflection)
It has now been a few days since we came back from the cruise. In the previous evening i was a ball of nerves, so my sleep was not great. That was pretty understandable considering the circumstances. For my pleasant surprise everything went well and we had no problems whatsoever when it came to drunk people.
Going was not easy for me and i did experience some bouts of anxiety and needed to hold someones hand in few occasions. A good friend of mine was such an amazing help by regularly checking in on me and making sure i was feeling okay as well as offering to hold my hand whenever there was a lots of people around us. She knew how difficult it is for me sometimes to let people in on whats going on and talk about my feelings, so it was amazing having someone there for support. I was surrounded by people that made me feel completely safe so it definitely helped.
What tools i used to help in tough moments?
The main coping skill used was to simply focus on my breathing while also reminding myself that this is a different occasion and that trauma is not going to happen again. I shared my feelings openly to the people around me so they knew what was happening and could then remind me that everything is okay and there will always be someone with me while we go shopping and things like that. So i was not left alone to deal with the trauma responses while we traveled.
How do i feel now?
so much better compared to the evening before we began our trip. I am proud of myself for not letting my fears to stop me for living my life and facing my fears head on. Also i am sure that my therapist would also be proud of me and what i did to overcome yet another anxiety causing scenario. Surrounding our self`s with safe people who will stay by your side no matter what happens is the best thing we can do for our mental well being. I do not have many friends but all of them are carefully selected to be the ones i trust completely and can be myself around.
the lesson learned from this: I can do hard things and the Trauma from the past is not stopping me for living my life to the fullest❤
