Okay....back when i was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder......which by the way i do not have.....(friggin ex) .....i was in a class called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (which by the way is an EXCELLENT class) .....
it was a two and a half hour class once a week on how to survive in every day situations when you have serious anxiety. (i'll write another post on Borderline.....it's pretty serious and changed my WHOLE perspective on mental illness)
ANYWAY. ....one of the exercises we did in this class was to put together a distress tolerance box.
you take a box......and you fill it with things that make you feel good and things you can do for yourself.
mine has
Music. several different kinds for different moods.
The Offspring- for when i'm just tense and really need to get up and move and dance really hard.
The Pet Shop Boys. for when i just want to feel silly...and sing along.
REM ...for when i'm sad....their songs can always make me feel not alone.
An old green teddy bear i had as a kid.
Pictures of my kids, my lover and his son, my family.
really expensive good CHOCOLATE.
special expensive candles that are my favorite scent.
some kind of craft project.....i like to sew doll clothes by hand.
My favorite herbal tea.
bubble bath.
my favorite ugly cuddly sweater. :P
a beautiful leather bound journal to write in.
and a really good pen that is a joy to write with.
a couple of favorite movies that are just funny....i don't remember which ones i have in there right now.
a box of decadent chocolate mousse mix.
a pedicure set with nail polish
a facial treatment.
The Sims2 computer game......i'd play it every day but it becomes a MAJOR distraction and i get nothing done....so i save it for when i'm really stressed.
anyway.......i think i have some other stuff in there too that i'm not remembering.
the point is....it's a box...that you can just reach for and riffle through and ideas might come to you of something that will make you feel better.
So...if you put together a box like this....what would YOURS have??????
Fallyn posted on Nov 03, 2007
| views: 239
Comments
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rupert7 said on Nov 03, 2007....
Fallyn- 6 years ago I was diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder! Can't be that bad,nobody has ever expressed any interest in treating it! I have always kinda thrived on stress. I seem to perform better under the proverbial hammer and just "roll" with any punches that come along. Perchance I am just plain stupid?? got more to say but am getting hounded into bed so goodnight for now,catcha later. -
Fallyn said on Nov 03, 2007....
there are low and high functioning versions of borderline......and even high functioning can be pretty serious........you may not actually have it....it's VERY often misdiagnosed. and one of the major diagnostic criteria is that it must affect your life in a pretty major way. ...like i said...you may not have it. I don't and i even had all the criteria. -
silverwhisper said on Nov 03, 2007....
into that box would go a few CDs, mostly springsteen, and a pad of paper so i can write.
ed -
uniquely-ironic said on Nov 03, 2007....
coffee, dark chocolate, my iPod shuffle, fuzzy socks, good smelling lotion, a needlecraft project, my camera and pictures of my kids and fiancee. -
Fallyn said on Nov 03, 2007....
such great ideas! -
rupert7 said on Nov 03, 2007....
Fallyn - I have always found it difficult to interact with people, bit of a hermit. I am 57 and have never been in too much trouble really. Too old to worry about it now!
Ah yes! - the box!....Hmm, well _black jelly beans, plenty of black jelly beans! The sonnets of Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky's No.1 piano concerto, The best of Roy Orbison and some of Nora Jones stuff - The "feels like home" cd for sure.
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Twylarants said on Nov 03, 2007....
Chocolate, cigarettes, lighter, Van Morrison cd, a Conan Doyle mystery, hand-held solitaire game, pad and pen, warm socks. -
Fallyn said on Nov 04, 2007....
ooooooooooooooooooooh black jelly beans!!!!
what's your favorite sonnet?
i love your choices awesome!
twyla.....i never thought of socks......or a hand held game...that's an awesome idea.
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rupert7 said on Nov 04, 2007....
Fallyn - His 29th sonnet has special meaning for me. -- here it is
;When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deal heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.For my soulmate Liisa who died many years ago but who will live forever in my heart.
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queenparanoia said on Nov 04, 2007....
oh wow my boxs will be the same like you and i'll have the sims2 too!!! i love sims 2 i even made a music video using it!!! =) -
Fallyn said on Nov 04, 2007....
oh that is so good.....i love it....i have the complete works of shakespeare. in a volume.
.....i also have a tiny little leather bound actors copy of macbeth.....from 1809. -
rupert7 said on Nov 05, 2007....
Fallyn - 1809 nearly 200 years old,wow how precious is that! How did you come by it? While not an expert, I am a bit of a Shakespeare fan. No one I know has the slightest interest in his work,which I find rather sad! Here is another of my favorites -No.141 In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note; But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who in despite of view is pleased to dote; Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted, Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone, Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited To any sensual feast with thee alone: But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee, Who leaves unsway'd the likeness of a man, Thy proud hearts slave and vassal wretch to be: Only my plague thus far I count my gain, That she that makes me sin awards me pain. So rude of me not to ask! - do you have a favorite sonnet? I find them terribly romantic! Be wanrned,start me off and I shall sprout poems all night long! lol I used to have the complete works too but my first wife made them disappear as I drove her mad with my endless recitals - stupid woman! LOL -
Fallyn said on Nov 06, 2007....
My aunt, was an incredible woman...she gave it too me....maybe i should write a post about her. -
rupert7 said on Nov 06, 2007....
yes that would be interesting -
rupert7 said on Nov 06, 2007....
yes that would be interesting -
Fallyn said on Nov 06, 2007....
and i did. :P
Comment on "My Distress Tolerance Box."
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