Hi Sunny,
There's nothing like being recharged from a family visit :) I feel that way too with my daughter visiting this weekend. I was exhausted on Friday, laundry, errands and such. But, when I picked her up from the bus stop and we went out to dinner, I felt energized by being with her. Today, George and I took her car shopping, just to look and decide later, and we had a great time. One of my past event triggers was that I used to have panic attacks in cars in traffic. I had issues with other people driving (I wanted to be in control and stop the car if I needed to). And, I had issues with liking my own large van and not wanting to ride in other smaller vehicles (claustrophobia). So, you can imagine me riding around in different compact cars today with Dominique driving :) :) :) I would say, initially, I had mild anxiety about it, I didn't have much time to decide if I would go or not, so I told myself I'd be okay and I was. I used to panic at traffic lights, so the other funny, is that she was driving me around in claustrophobic cars in bumper to bumper traffic and we had red lights. I, physically, relaxed my body and looked around and listened to the conversation. And, I did really well and was glad for the exposure, but it was exhausting. Now, I see why it's so important to reward yourself afterward, because you are reinforcing the positive behavior, and pardon my French, giving the finger to anxiety and negative behavior. We went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was heavenly. Everything tasted fantastic, from the bucket of peanuts in a shell (I didn't eat the whole bucket :), to the rolls with cinnamon butter, to the salad with home made ranch dressing and the tender and perfectly flavored sirloin skewers with vegetables on rice. I also used humor to diffuse anxiety. My daughter was looking at Kia Soul cars (the commercials have hip hop hamsters driving the cars). So, I told the dealer, "I guess this is the only place where it's okay to sell your Soul". We all laughed and then he was telling about the features and options and I asked him if I bought one, could I get mine with hamsters. So, it was a lot of fun. My daughter is sleeping over at her girl friend's house tonight and she and Jazz are going to meet another friend for lunch tomorrow before he goes back to college. I think being with family is good for the Soul :)
Shari
