CRISIS JUMPING: got recovery?

I meet with alot of crisis jumpers. Jumping from one crisis to another, they call their therapist in a panic, attend a few sessions and once the intensity of the crisis has abated, therapy done. Crisis jumpers rarely engage a recovery program, digging down in their subconscious dirt to identify the inner cause of their anxiety responses and knee-jerk reflexive reactions to stress that tends to magnify normal problems into crisis situations. Hence, some crisis jumpers I've been seeing, off and on, for years and, even though I emphasize a personal recovery program, their chief focus remains on externalities rather than internal subconscious hard-wiring that determines how they interpret critical events and chaotic episodes.

Everybody's recovering from something at some time in their life, but most fail to fully engage a recovery process resulting in a buildup of layers of distress circuits waiting to light up and direct emotions and behaviors when the triggers are prompted. Trauma, addictions, neglect, abuse, failed relationships, assault/violence/aggression, death of a loved one, prolonged unemployment, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, developmental and complex PTSD, codependency, financial hardship, years of bullying and verbal abuse, chronic and episodic physical illness and pain, etc, etc, etc.

You may not have experienced full blown trauma but, make no mistake, the intense emotional episodes of your life have sculpted lasting impressions upon your grey matter and may inadvertently, on a subconscious level, impair and interfere with your ability to engage in fulfilling relationships without you even knowing why.

Make no mistake, unacknowledged insecurities will become adamantly apparent in long-term intimate interactions and what is not acknowledged and addressed will rear its ugly head in any and every future relationship you initiate. 

10 PRINCIPLES OF RECOVERY

The choice for recovery does not simply encompass taking medications and meeting with your therapist once a week. In fact, considering this the whole of your recovery plan will only result in disappointment and despondency due to neglecting other essential needs and any therapist that agrees that medication and weekly hour long therapy sessions are all you require should be flat-out fired.

The choice for recovery involves a comprehensive holistic approach to self development and self- improvement. It involves diet and eating healthy foods (eating crap food results in sugar spikes that impair mood and functioning). It involves exercise and bodily movement (hours of sitting, gazing at screens, has been shown to be conducive to depressive rumination which can lead to a major depressive episode). It requires lifestyle changes and educating yourself on recovery principles.

How productive are you as opposed to consumptive? The 80/20 rule asserts that 80% of your day should consist of productive activities and behaviors that help to improve yourself and/or help others, while only 20% of that day should focus on consumptive activities (entertainment, video games, netflix, crap food, TV, nicotine. caffeine, alcohol, etc).

Do you have goals (daily, short-term, mid-range, long term, life) based on knowledge of your specific limitations? Nature abhors a vacuum and, eventually, so will you and you will fill that emptiness with chemical and behavioral addictions if there is no purpose to your life and in your chronically vulnerable psycho-emotional state, life will become a series of jumping from one crisis to another, simply because you have not developed the capacity to ADAPT.

Adaptation allowed for human evolution and, on an individual level, it will allow for peace and joy in your life because you can roll with the punches life directs at you. 

TWO CHOICES: Choose Recovery