I bought the audiobook, CALM THE F*CK DOWN. So far I like it a lot…
it’s also inspiring potential blog posts of what I, a person with
diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder, am doing to cope. I’ll tell ya a
couple here–in case you, like me, are kinda wired to easily freak out:
(1) One thing I learned when I was in therapy was that having a PURPOSE
is key to getting out of my own head. That’s also emphasized in the
book, TRAUMA RECOVERY- SESSONS WITH DR MATT- that I cowrote
with Matt E. Jaremko, Ph.D., who is my former therapist. He taught me
that altruism goes a long way to pulling one off the pity pot. Even
though we are socially isolated, I try to think of something I can do to
ease others’ burden–and one thing I did was join with SCBWI in
providing resources for teachers. Check out this page–and help yourself
to downloading my first book, Courage in Patience. There’s also
teaching resources there–and I’m halfway through recording the audio of
the novel. If you prefer an actual ebook rather than a PDF, it’s on
Amazon for .99 https://bethfehlbaumbooks.info/courage-in-patience-novel-un…/
(2) I also learned that having a PLAN is HUGE. To-Do lists are still a
HUGE part of my life. I teach high school English and we are of course
moving to remote instruction. At first I spiraled, trying to come up
with ideas of how to best teach– and I think I’ve found it: we’re doing
a unit on DYSTOPIA! Timely, right? I’ll share those lesson plans with
y’all too, once I get them completed today. There are plans through the
last week in May, even though we haven’t yet been told we’ll be out
through then. I will simply adapt the lessons to in-person–happily so!-
if we get to return.
(3) I’m also planning further as an author–I
will be hosting Zoom meetings to talk about writing–but I’m still
working on those (for obvious reasons, the day-job that pays the bills
takes priority there..) AND I’m also querying literary agents, so that’s
giving me something to do as well.
🙂
(4) I know y’all can’t tell based on my newsfeed–but I’m really
limiting my consumption of political TV. I repost credible info
here–but shows like Morning Joe are just feeding my anxiety–so I turn
that off –turn the TV off completely–and listen to music instead. The
Avett Brothers soothe me immensely. Speaking of music– go here–http://drmattbook.com—
and check out the PLAYLISTS that accompany our book, TRAUMA RECOVERY:
SESSIONS WITH DR. MATT. There’s music videos, suggested TV shows &
movies–lots of good stuff that goes with concepts in the book.
STEADY ON, Y’ALL! We will get through this by being kind to each other,
thinking of others, not just ourselves, having a plan, washing our
hands!–and staying HOME!