Sue’s Early Pages – 10/6/2018

This is the first time since her vision declined that Sue has gone into Walmart alone. She shares techniques from DBT to help deal with: asking for favors, choosing which battles to fight and when to pass them by, and soothing yourself when you’re feeling stressed. She’s seen her general practitioner and her ophthalmologist, too.  As usual, she’s been busy!

  • 21. “The first new thing I did was go into Walmart – alone. I was not thrilled with the idea. As I said before, I cannot see faces and Walmart was full of people. What if I snub somebody again? Also, the day before I had gone to Staples and had trouble with the credit card machine. Came out of there in tears. Something so simple and I had screwed it up!”
  • 22. “If you are anything like me, you were used to being independent. If no one did it for me, I did it for myself. Now I find myself in the position of asking for favors, asking for help. It is aggravating and depressing; yes? Yes! DBT has skills for getting what you want without alienating people and, just as importantly, saving your self-respect. None of us like to grovel or beg. Too old for that nonsense.”
  • 23.  “So that is pretty much it for rambling – least for now. I am tilting at windmills on a few other fronts. Not sure I will win but I intend to be heard. I have been having successes and failures, but those are for another post. I just hope the mind weeds I have scattered – like dandelion seeds – have taken root somewhere.”
  • 24.  “Some days we are just being ‘pecked to death by ducks’. We spin from peck to peck and never actually deal with any one of them. DBT says to deal with one of those unfriendly fowl at a time. You cannot fight a war on too many fronts. Decide where to put your resources and win that battle first. Then go on to the next battle.”
  • 25. “So I am listening to the birds calling before night falls. Outside, I am looking at the sky and watching the clouds. I can feel a light, cool breeze on my face. I am not tasting anything, but the smell? Well, I guess it is Spring. It was a stressful day, but I am winding down with my self-soothing skills. It is going to be a restful night.”
Next installment: Coming Soon!
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