Stop and Breathe

Lately we've been talking about coping skills and how to apply them when you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed. 

Well I have a first hand experience to share with you on how I applied my coping skills this past week and it helped me to survive....literally.

If you've made your way over to my other blog, then you know that I have a chronic illness. 

This past week I got really sick, so sick I ended up in the hospital for 5 days. 

It started out with what I thought was just stress from Comps, because those are really stressful, but then it turned into something worse. 

I'm not going to get into details, if you want to read those, then just check out my other blog in a few days lol! 

However, throughout the week while I was in the hospital I was stressed over missing school, falling behind, my body not having enough energy or strength to sit up, and just freaking out about everything.

It was here (after many phone calls from professors and my mother nagging me) that I realized it was all out of my control. 

I stopped thinking those negative automatic thoughts that weren't helping me and I took a deep breath. 

Now I know i've talked about breathing a lot and you're probably rolling your eyes at me right now.

But it works. 

Sometimes you have to focus on what's right in front of you in order to gain the control back that you lost. 

I couldn't fix not being in school. I couldn't fix my body breaking down on me.

What I could fix though, was being able to breathe. 

Simply taking one deep breath showed me that I do have some power, I do have some control over my situation. 

And sometimes when you're really stressed or anxious or overwhelmed, that little bit of control is all you need.