Thank you everyone for the support. It has been 7 months since I made that first step and it is hard to believe that I have come so far from being afraid to leave the house. I bought a car so I drive now. I have gone to work in the city which is about 20 miles from my home. Everyday I work towards the goal of not letting the fear stop me. I choose to feel the fear and do it anyway. Then before you know it the fear goes away.
Wow! That's such great news! Good for you! I've found that if I tell myself "I WANT to be here, doing this" when I have a moment of doubt, it helps me refocus that all I do when I avoid or panic is hurt myself. CBT does work -- especially those "baby steps!" I sometimes love to watch "What About Bob?" because it reminds me, rather humorously of that fact. Congrats!
It felt like it was taking me forever to take that first step. I couldn't leave my apartment to even take out the trash. Checking the mail and going to the grocery store was out of the question. I was homebound for about 8 months. One day it finally clicked in my head the lesson in this program "baby steps". It took about 2 hours of baby steps and I had to have a support person on my the phone but I left my apartment and crossed the street to the grocery store. That was over a month ago. Now I go shopping and walk around the block when ever I want. I catch the bus and I visit my family. I am not saying I am "cured" because I still get those feelings of wanting to run back home. Now I tell myself that I will choose long term freedom over the short term comfort of running home to relieve the panic.
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