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The fourteen day challenge

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intothelight

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The past few weeks I participated in a Depression Recovery Program and one of the exercises was to go 14 days without making a negative comment or thinking a negative thought. I am not talking about things that are "unfounded" but the negative things we tell ourselves or think about ourselves and others.

I still have to make it my fourteen days, because when I do catch myself, I have to start all over. The neat thing about this exercise, is it has called attention to a lot of the negative thinking styles that I have internalized over the years and makes me have to stop and address them.

Didn't know if anyone would want to join me, but I thought I would put it out here. I am starting from day one again, as I did criticize myself for not getting someone "up on time". See I am not the alarm clock, it is their responsibility to get up and I should not have criticized myself. Kind of makes me do a "thinking" reality check and change course when I start to drift.

I'll let you know if I make it the fourteen days. Right now my goal is at least three in a row!:)
 
Good grief. That is one heck of a challenge. Several years ago, someone in a class I was in kept snapping a rubber band. During a break I asked her about it and she shared something similar. When she'd have a negative thought or self criticism... she'd snap the rubber band. She said it was useful for her to acknowledge the frequency of the negative thought pattern.

I was looking for another challenge... I'm throwing in with you and Junebug. I'm trying to figure out though, how to consciously acknowledge the thought so I know when to restart. Maybe I can find a pretty rubber band?
 
Let me clarify, there are things that are can be criticized that are legitimate. For example, if I ask my daughter to take out the trash and she doesn't and I reprimand her for not completing a task she promised to do, then my criticism is not "unfounded". It is grounded in reality and the present.

Hope that makes some sense.
 
I don't think I had any yet, but to be honest I forgot to pay attention! ARgggh!
I cried once- just felt sad- that doesn't count right?, just a reminder of someone, though I guess I should be happy for them
 
Years ago when I first heard of cognitive behavior therapy I decided I was going to declare war on my negative thinking. I hung a blank piece of paper on my fridge and every time I had a negative thought I would put a hash mark on the paper.

I swear that the first day all I did was stand at the fridge and put marks on that paper. My four year old asked me why I was in time out.

I'm in! Challenge accepted! It will be interesting to see how I do. (Does swearing at the computer count?)
 
Heather- you too, if you like! :)
I once wrote down a list of fears and there were so many my wrist hurt writing them, and it was almost silly (eventually) re-reading the sheer volume
.. Scary thing was, that was The Good Old Days, too :roflmao:

Dear Deb, seriously, to clarify: I don't usually get angry, but as I am understanding this, it would include anger or criticism that is unjustifiable, depressive thoughts, hopeless ones, self-defeating ones? And also self-abusive talk (then I'm more angry).
xox
 
Junebug, that is it. It is telling ourselves we are worthless, or taking blame for something we shouldn't, or belittling ourselves; or all of the other negatives we feed ourselves. It is a way to retrain how we think and view ourselves.

It is also projecting those negative thoughts about ourselves onto others..e.g. so and so wouldn't want to talk to me anyway since I am such a loser. It really is all about being honest with ourselves, recognizing the negative thinking patterns and changing them.

For example, let's say I bounce a check. The appropriate response would be, I need to make sure I watch my balance more carefully the next time. The inappropriate response would be, "I am so f'ing stupid, that I can't do anything right. Everything I do turns to sh*t. I am just a waste of space on the earth."

I am more likely to take the I am a total loser waste of space route, than the " I made a mistake and this is how I should prevent it in the future.". So in essence I keep feeding my own negative thinking and in essence eroding my own self-esteem and self-worth. So, really to stop it, it is up to me to change my own thinking.

It is basically CBT, and the fourteen day challenge is our group exercise. As members of the group we held each other accountable. It was just such a simple formula that I thought it might be go to toss out here.

Keep the questions coming. As I have worked on this program for the past eight weeks, I have found huge benefit. It wasn't designed for PTSD, but since depression is something else I suffer from, anything that improves my mental health is well worth the time. This was just one little tool I thought was really kind of neat.
 
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