Confession: I had my first appointment with the psychologist today. She was a really nice person and great listener too.
Surprisingly enough, I actually did get something from our first meeting. Never really thought about it, but the way I handle mental stress is far from ideal. Typically, whenever I think about something negative, I end up making out to be more severe than it actually is. What I never realized was that the situations I was in at the time (even the severe ones) really weren't all that bad. So rather than allow myself to be overwhelmed, I'm gonna try to be more optimistic. I still feel like there are a ways to go for me to make a full recovery, but I'll have 6-8 more sessions with the psychologist, and hopefully I'll be fine after all that is done and over with. At the end of the first session, she handed me a list of questions to ask myself whenever I'm dealing with anxiety, and they're really helpful in getting my thoughts in order.
And, not too long after my visit, family drama breaks loose again. It's an extremely hectic situation, so I'll refrain from talking about it here, but it was severe enough to push me to my mental limit. Unfortunately, I ended up failing to carry out the practice I mentioned. Because of the severity of the situation, even the list couldn't help me get my thoughts in order and I had another anxiety fit. I had turned to Zealty on Skype, and he was great in helping me cope with the ordeal. When the drama cooled down, I realized that the turnout actually wasn't as severe as I had anticipated and that I should have had more faith in positive thinking. I'm still not entirely confident in my ability to cope with every stressful situation that comes my way, but I'll give it my best shot. I do think I made some progress after today.