Hi There my lovelies! I hope you are having a wonderful day. It was snowing outside this morning and is frigid outside. Hence, I thought today I briefly speak to you regarding something that has really affected me. It is extremely difficult for me I will share my experience with you and I would love to hear your thoughts and how you handle similar situation. The topic of my post is Learned Helplessness.
Before I can explain what I mean by learned helpless, I want to give a brief history of myself. I have a background in Public Health and Research with minor and graduate courses in behavioral science and Psychology. I have also received training in Mindfulness Meditation. I really believe in living in the moment and the idea of mind over body. I have seen the world in the point of view of glass half full. However, the past year I have been in the fight of my life with my mind.
This is one of the reason I had to take a break from blogging. My beautiful readers, when you are constantly in a fight or flight respond, you cannot enjoy day-to-day activities. I thought with my mindful based training I can handle it. However, slowly I tachycardia, rapid heart rate, became worse. I also started to have arrhythmias or abnormal heart rhythm. I saw a cardiologist and he didn’t find any underlying heart condition. My migraine symptoms got worse and I started have multiple auras (both visual – blurry vision, and sensory – tingling in one limb or a feeling of numbness that travels up your arm over 10 to 20 minutes. The sensation can spread to one side of your face and tongue).
My beautiful readers, the past year has been the worst year of my life and and led to what is known as learned helplessness, a belief that failure is we can’t change the course of negative event and that failure is inevitable and insurmountable. In my case, the past year I have been living in a very toxic environment, dealing with very hard to deal with people. Being the optimistic person I am, I did not want to give up and thought I would be able to handle the situation. After months, I started to have my symptoms and was unaware of the reason. My years long insomnia that I have learned to control the past 5 to 6 years returned. My family and friends started to notice the change. Towards the end of almost a year I really began to feel burnt out and helpless. I really don’t wish this feeling on anyone.
Finally, after almost a year my family, friends, and physicians have convinced me to seek help. Yes, I have started seeking counseling. I cannot tell you how helpful this has been for me. My beautiful reader. One thing I advice from my own experience, please seek help when your surroundings become overwhelming. Through my work meeting with counselor and my support system, I know that the first step to overcome your stress is to remove your stressor. I have come to terms with my stressor and am working to remove my stressor. Just acknowledging the problem is a great start. My sister is another of my big support system who sat with through many of my meltdowns and showed me that I am not alone. She is my unsung hero. Thanks to the support I’ve received, I am now working hard to remove my stressor.
The year is new and I have a purpose. I am still stressed but I no longer feel helpless. I feel supported. I will be dealing with my extreme stressor but I know that soon it will be over. My beautiful reader, writing to you gives me courage and hope. Every time I read a wonderful blog of yours or share something I love, I feel connected. Thank you for your support and thank you for all the wonderful and thoughtful post of yours. Please keep doing what you do.
I would love to hear if you can share your story of your tools for facing your mental challenges. Today more than ever I can hear my Grandpa’s words ringing in my ears, “If there is a will, there’s a way”. May your mind help you find the strong will to find light in darkest of paths and lead you to extraordinary destinations.
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