Newbie and ready for hard work

[needgrace]

hi dj21,

sorry you find yourself here.
but i am glad you found this board bc there are a lot of great people here.

GALing was difficult for me at first too. it is easy to have gotten so wrapped up in doing things w/ your family that you forget how to do things for and with yourself.

but it is also so important bc in GALing we rediscover the things we love about ourselves. for me it was hard initially bc i did not want to do anything..but i set some physical goals (i biked 62 miles one day around my birthday last year) and some social ones (meeting some new people, reaching out to at least one friend every day, trying a meditation group event.) The meditation event was helpful for my state of mind and i met some interesting people.

i think one of the keys for me was to think of it as taking one small step first so that i did not get overwhelmed... and then it grew from there. i am still working on it, i think it will be a lifelong process but taking it one step at a time was crucial.

((( )))