Helping Others Feels Awesome

So my wife was out of town this week, and I was worried that it might cause heightened anxiety with me. I combatted that by keeping myself busy when I wasn't at work.  And that mostly worked, though my wife was struggling with her issues, and that always contributes to my anxiety, so there was some there. I eased out of that by thinking up ideas to help her issues when she gets back and by giving her advice and doing my best to comfort her while she was there, as well as thinking up ideas to help on a longer term. And coming up with the ideas and cleaning started a wave of joy that carried me through the week. 

After the Life Ring meeting Sunday, I went and bought a couple of camping chairs to give to A Way Forward (the non-profit place that lets is met there. We often hold our meetings outside, but there often isn't enough chairs. So I'm donating a couple for use there. I tried to stencil their name on the chairs, but it didn't turn out so well. It's the thought that counts, right? 

Tuesday, I reached out to a Life Ring member who's husband was out of town, which is a trigger for her. I was checking to see if she was okay. She had taken some medication to help with the urges and was getting along pretty well. 

Thursday, a person at my Life Ring group was checking in with her week and struggling with issues of anger and resentment towards someone who had and continues to be truly horrible to her and her family. Cross-talk is encouraged there unless the speaker doesn't want it. I have her some advice, and you could visibly see the relief come over her body as I gave it to her. She thanked me profusely and told me she was going to implement the ideas I offered to her. 

That was an awesome feeling. However, on the drive home, I was hit with an anxiety attack that I can't think of any trigger for. I went home and went to sleep. The next morning, the anxiety had lifted and the awesome feeling was still there.

Today I checked back in with the one from Tuesday night, and she made it through with no issues. I also received a text from a fellow AA member in which he mentioned having a lot of anger that builds up inside him, especially when dealing with others while shopping, etc. I told him to "Come up with the silliest saying you can think of that's the opposite of mean and spiteful and say that every time you're in that kind of situation. Soon, you'll start thinking they're kind of funny." And "And a bonus is, if someone hears you saying it, they'll wonder what it means and if you're crazy. It should absolutely make no sense."

He thought it was a good idea and was going to try it. There's another good feeling from helping others this week. 

Anyway, I got a good bit of cleaning done this week, especially since I couldn't get outside to do yard work but one night. It looks amazing and having it cleaned pushes the anxiety away even more.

In total, this was an awesome week.