Dear Friends,
A small but mighty update: Today, I managed to put a puzzle away before finishing it. This is a big win for me! The puzzle was wearing me down. It was consuming my brain. It was about to spiral into fixation. I am not feeling great physically, so I was extra worried about the prospect of being up all night obsessively working on it when my body needed sleep.
Tara asked if I might allow the puzzle to be put away without being completed. I replied that it would be very stressful to my compulsive side. So my mom offered to help me complete it as soon as possible. I resigned myself to having a long night of toiling away on something I didn’t even want to do. But at least it would be faster with my mom’s help.
But minutes after this chat, I was able to convince my body to clean up the puzzle! I just got up and walked over to the table and swept the pieces into the box. I couldn’t believe it!
I feel so proud. I am gaining confidence in my potential to develop pathways to help me with my most disruptive compulsions. This will be a long and difficult journey to achieve, but I am growing less hopeless about it.
Your Friend,
Danny
Danny With Words 