Some thoughts I had in response to this post on tumblr:
Love this. Super relevant to emetophobia and anxiety in general. I know
it seems like every time you push yourself it has to go really well or
else what was the point, but that’s not true. These experiences are
still helping you recover and figure things out. If you think you can
handle something and it turns out to be too much and causes an anxiety
reaction, you will still survive it, and then you will know you need to
take a smaller step first. Exposure isn’t an exact science; you won’t
always get it right.
Also, sometimes when you have been anxious
so long and have avoided everything, you’re not even sure what you like
to do and what you don’t like to do. You could end up at an event where
you’re not anxious, but you’re also not having a great time, and that
doesn’t mean you made a horrible mistake. You could end up going to the
movies several times and then realize ‘hey, I haven’t only been avoiding
movies because of anxiety. I also find them really boring.’ It makes
sense that you wouldn’t have known this before, because with an anxiety
disorder you have this extra layer of fear obscuring your feelings. You
have to work through the fear, and sometimes that means doing the same
thing a few times until you are less anxious and can experience your
true reaction.
