Posted by Gabriele on 16/10/2012, 5:47 pm
Message modified by board administrator 16/10/2012, 6:15 pm
I'm not going to talk about workshop organization, or about Andrew and Peter who are anyway great!!
I come from Italy and I had started a recovery program by myself before attending this workshop, but is hard work and I needed help to improve my condition.
When you are alone it's easy to be trapped within yourself
and also if you have started a recovery program, it's easy to lose the hope to get recovered.
The biggest problem with paruresis is that you are on your own, most of the time probably fighting with yourself.
So I had no worry about attending this workshop, because for sure nothing could be worse than being alone losing trust in yourself.
The most important thing of being part of this experience is that you achieve something, you can feel that something is changed. And this feeling comes from experience, not from thinking, so is something that you can really trust.
This trust can help you to believe that recovery is possible. And when you start to believe in that, recovery is possible 
I had there the opportunity to train with myself during that three days, handle successes and failures and feeling my reactions, managing anxiety about performing.
Those are more and less the same feelings that I have during my exposure session, or in normal life,
but there I could be aware of my reactions and start reframing. Because of talking about my feelings, sharing, repeating bad experiences/feelings, and accepting being uncomfortable.
So the idea is to work with yourself in a safe environment and learn skills and coping strategies for supporting yourself during the recovery program that is needed.
I don't know how long will be the recovery but for sure I feel stronger than before, and I know that I'm not alone. That is enough.
Gabriele 328
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