And so the blogging begins...

Well Hello there!!! Glad you stumbled onto my blog! Hope you are having a fabulous day. This blog will be my journey throughout the struggle I have been in for almost 6 years. I have agoraphobia. Sucks wouldn't you say? It really isn't that bad their is way worse things in life. According to dictionary.com agoraphobia is:

ag·o·ra·pho·bi·a

   /ˌægərəˈfoʊbiə/ Show Spelled[ag-er-uh-foh-bee-uh] Show IPA

noun Psychiatry .

an abnormal fear of being in crowds, public places, or open areas, sometimes accompanied by anxiety attacks.

 

It is a fun word to say... However that can be tweaked a bit in my case. I love being around people and open areas. Whatever that entails. LOL. I just have a little issue with leaving my house. I get anxiety and panic attacks while I am in the car. Some days are better than others which is normal in everyday life as I am learning. A couple of months ago I turned 30. I decided after my 30th birthday I would find myself a therapist (again). And with luck found an AMAZING one. We will get into that later.

 

I am not cured at all. It is almost 6yrs of this. It doesn't go away in a snap (although I wish it would sometimes). It takes a lot of work confronting my fears day in and day out. But I have seen amazing progress! I started my journey 32 weeks ago. Yep 32 weeks, February 23, 2012 to be exact,  I was exhausted of my cycle. My cycle included trying to get into my car to drive about a house or two, freaking out and turning back. Doing that for about a month or two (if I was really in a good place) and then having a panic attack and not driving for 6 months. Yep try that for almost 6yrs. 32 weeks ago I basically snapped and said that is it I am done doing this. I am going to drive EVERY SINGLE DAY and I don't care if it KILLS ME!!! I was pretty much at the breaking point. So I embarked on that. Some days I was amped and ready other days I could feel my cycle wanting to break through. I didn't allow it. Even if it was just to get into the car real quick and jump out I did it every single day. And well here I am 32 almost 33 weeks in.

 

I wanted to start this blog now that I have been given the tools to help myself move forward. I learn every single day new things, what works what doesn't work. It is trial and error sometimes. I am not on medication. That is my personal choice for another post. I have started a blog before but stopped it when I went through the not driving for 6 months phase. I want to do this now to keep track of what I am doing and to give an insight as to what I am doing to overcome my agoraphobia. With that I will post my progress, my learnings, and my thoughts. If anything I do you can apply to your own life then wonderful if not then I hope you enjoy my little blog over here.

 

~Jenn