I did have severe anxiety and clinical depression, something that After three years I am still working on. I have improved so much. With two years of counselling and support from family and friends.
I have my space, my television, my stuff in one of the downstairs rooms. And I can please (if that is the word) myself what I want to occupy the time. I have my music, which I am particular about. Tamla Motown, Soul, Northern soul, Philadelphia sound, watch sport, drama, comedy. I also walk, gardening, do the chores, do the small shopping. Football and cricket has been a big part of my life and I enjoy watching my team at home, I watch my son play cricket in the summer, I watch my grandchildren play, I play with them, even though they knocked me out. I also cook meals for us. Which not doing it for most of my life, having to, is so daunting.
I am my wife's carer!
I would read in the sun all day in my back garden if I could. Bloody weather!
And I enjoy doing jigsaws on my big screen computer.
And I spend a couple of hours a day on this site which has helped me so much in the last decade.
Hate being bored and I can sometimes have tele on, music on, reading and while doing my chored! Madness!
You do need to find your space! You need to be comfortable in your own presence and with others. It does take time, these things will be with you and working your way through it all, thinking of the time ahead.
I learned a lesson about anxiety that has stuck with me, an analogy.
When facing a ball bowled in cricket, you cannot think of that ball as you face the next ball! Because it won't be the same! You can't think of what is past and gone, you can't change it, think of the next ball, and on its own merit. Otherwise, it will catch you out. Work with the present and future. You can't prepare for the past!
Be safe, take care.
