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Ch. 10 Get Pumped. Do Work.

This chapter doesn’t have a particular therapeutic basis or massive research backing it up. This is the freestyle section where I get to geek out and tell you how freaking amped I am for you to get out there and do this damn thing. No, seriously. I wish you could see how fast my fingers are typing right now. You are all coming from different backgrounds with different attitudes and different levels of readiness for change. When you picked up this book, you might already have been amped like me. Maybe you were curious but skeptical. Maybe you were doubtful, but thought you’d give at least one more shot at feeling better. In all of those situations, you still picked up the damn book. You’re ready for this.

You are in a period of progress. Whether it’s a little tweaking that you want to do or a radical overhaul, allow this period of your life to be one that you work on yourself. There’s no timeline on healing, but there’s also no time like the present to start making some changes. The anxious brain is likely to take that statement and feel like that is a lot of pressure. You might think, “Do I HAVE to get better now?” or, “Should I be better by now?” No way! It’s all good. These things can take time, but you’re already closer to the version of you that you want to be. In fact, if the prospect of changing everything all at once is daunting or scary to you, then break it up into smaller pieces.

Get out a sheet of paper and write down the things that stuck with you from this book. Write down the things that you don’t have to go back and re-read to remember. Even if you can’t remember the full details, write down a few general concepts. Now, think about the aspects of your anxiety that are causing you the most grief. Which pieces are really screwing with you? Boom. You just found a place to start.

Is there one of those issues that seems to line up well with the concepts you learned in this book? You bet your ass there is! Set yourself up with a plan for success. What is one small thing that you can do to get started on your quest? Maybe it’s forcing yourself to take 3 short breaks during your week to reinvest your energy. Maybe you want to start keeping a little notebook with you to use as a thought log through your day. Maybe you even want to finally use that gym membership you’ve had for half a year and listen to that catchy ass new T-Swift song on the elliptical.

The point I’m trying to make is this:you can start now and be super stoked about taking these first steps toward really creating some enduring change in your life. You may even find that you have now given yourself permission to change and you will begin to naturally improve on your own. I promise you that there will be days when you feel crazy motivated and resilient and others where you feel like you are losing the uphill battle. These are normal things. The graph of improvement over time is never a perfect line. There will be ups and downs, but you will be trending upward. My best advice to you is to try to be enthusiastic about the journey in a way that makes sense to you.

I’ll tell you how I stay motivated. I named my anxiety. No seriously. His name is Fred and he’s a fucking pain in the ass. I hate him. He’s annoying, mean, pushy, rude, and he constantly smells like cabbage. Now, I’m not one for real interpersonal violence (unless it’s in the octagon), but when I wake up and I’m in one of my periods of progress, I say to myself, “You’re goin’ down, Fred.” I also love video games, so I make a game out of it. Exposure is like gaining experience, leveling up my character. Getting better at deep breathing is like improving my fireball skill. Learning a new coping skill is similar to stumbling upon some epic imbued weapon. You should see my character at this point… much more badass than my actual outward appearance.

There are a zillion ways to get the work done. Maybe for you, you can conceptualize it as building yourself this swaggarific castle. Sometimes, you have to first build the foundation and some scaffolding; then you can hire more hands, upgrade your tools, and eventually build the crap out of that thing. From then on, it’s just occasional maintenance from stray catapult shots or dragon fire throughout the years.

Find something that works for you. This is your deal. You can go it alone or bring some friends along for the ride. You can pack it all in at once or take it slow and gradual. Whatever the case may be, you are ready to get started now. I’m getting chills thinking about how fucking awesome you are. Get pumped, my friend. Go do get work.

Thank You.

Let’s keep going.