*.☆*cries in devanagari*.✧

Hi there! I just saw your tags on a post where you explained about a CBT exercise called daily activity planning, and it seemed like something that could really help me, so first of all, thank you so much for sharing! And second, how has this worked for you? I think I could learn more about this from someone else's experience, but I'll definitely ask my therapist about this next week, I'm just trying to gather all the info I can on this because it truly resonated with me, so again, thanks a lot ❤️‍🩹

I'm glad it might be helpful!! I did learn about it a LONG time ago, like, over 5 years, so I might be doing it a bit different to how it's intended.

It often works for me when I'm feeling stuck in a pattern of not doing anything (and then feeling bad that I'm not doing anything....my brain needs enrichment!) and then I (usually) find I start making plans and sticking to them without it. I usually do it the night before (or that morning), and plan at most 2 days, but usually just one day. That way I don't have to replan if I end up not doing one of my planned things. I find that I usually *do* something else even if I don't do the thing I planned, so it works out in the end.

And as I said in the tags, I usually put a "start between" time next to them like "start between 10-11.30am". This is just because I always need a planned time to do things or they do not happen lol, and it's always a WIDE zone and I always have a buffer of at least half an hour between things, in case I start at 11.30, or at 11.40.

It's more a "be actively making choices about my life" aid than "get your to-do list done" aid (although it does help with that).

The other tool that helped me the most from CBT! Which should definitely be begun with professional guidance bc it's hard to be logical with by yourself to begin with! is Thought Challenges. Basically, you have whatever thought is bothering you and consider (write down!) factually what the evidence is for or against this being true (rather than argue in your head in circles) and then reframe the thought after thinking it through like this. So thoughts such as (not a real example from me, just hypothetical) "I'm a monster" could become "I sometimes act impulsively in ways that makie me feel bad about myself. I can choose what actions I take when I am upset, and I can be patient with myself during this difficult time". Those aren't all the steps! It really should be done with someone who knows what they're doing !!!