Self confidence....

Does your self confidence return during or after withdrawal?  I'm well aware that I don't feel like myself.

Any little thing scares me.  the phone ringing.  The thought of spending the day alone.  going to the store.  Hell, just even going out of the house.

I wake up at 6 AM and these thoughts just swim in my mind.  I constantly ruminate and wonder if I will ever be me again.  Anyone relate to this and does it get better.

Thanks for your support.

Does your self confidence return during or after withdrawal?  I'm well aware that I don't feel like myself.

Any little thing scares me.  the phone ringing.  The thought of spending the day alone.  going to the store.  Hell, just even going out of the house.

 

I wake up at 6 AM and these thoughts just swim in my mind.  I constantly ruminate and wonder if I will ever be me again.  Anyone relate to this and does it get better.

 

Thanks for your support.

I felt exactly like you do in acute withdrawal, and not only did my self-confidence eventually come back, but I feel more confident now than I ever did before or on Xanax.  Partly, this is because I no longer need Xanax to get me through daily life, which I did for 13 years.  That's been an immeasurable boost to my self-esteem.  But this is a slow process for many of us, and accepting that is key.  In acute I put off making any big decisions, distracted myself regularly until it became automatic.  it's important to not expect too much of yourself right now.

You will heal in time!

Waking up early is common in w/d and you aren't alone on how you feel.  I'm sure you'll be back to your old self when you are off and from what I've read maybe even more confident after this has run it's course.  I get windows when the fear and panic leaves enough to get stuff done and feel "normal" but it's a long way till we are healed sounds like.

Sending you positive energy and healing thoughts.

Yes it does. I promise. One thing I found really helpful when I felt like I could not accomplish anything that I used to be able to accomplish was to set really small goals for myself. If I was having a hard time leaving the house I would set a goal of walking around the block. If I didn't want to answer the phone and talk to people I picked one person I knew I could just be myself with and called them for a chat. If I knew I couldn't read a book, I would read a magazine article. If I was struggling with  looking like myself, I would put some nice clothes on and just wear them around the house and do my hair and take a hot shower and put some makeup on, even if I wasn't going to be seeing anyone that day. 

Those things always made me feel better. I still don't look like myself now because I gained twenty five pounds, but I make sure I dress fun and do my hair. So at least I half look like myself. I feel like myself inside though, just not when I look n the mirror. But I know that will come back eventually.

My confidence really built all the time. I didn't want to wait until I was off benzos to start building it so I constantly challenged myself with little small goals the whole time. I was realistic about what I could accomplish and tried to silence the voices inside my head that said 'how pathetic you used to own your own business and now you can't even clean the bathroom anymore!'  and just concentrated on the little things. Eventually the challenges i set became easy and I had new ones and they got easy then I made new ones and on and on. And some days I regressed and I had to lower my standards. But I just made sure everyday I accomplished something I could be proud of.

It felt good to be moving forward and not standing still no matter how slowly I moved! LOL!

It will come back, I promise. Bama.xo

According the Prof Ashton Anxiety is the most common and persistant symptom of benzo withdrawal regardless of previous mental health history

So.. very common. And yes.. I've been told at least that things do return to normal

Peace till then

Smiff

Does your self confidence return during or after withdrawal?  I'm well aware that I don't feel like myself.

Any little thing scares me.  the phone ringing.  The thought of spending the day alone.  going to the store.  Hell, just even going out of the house.

 

I wake up at 6 AM and these thoughts just swim in my mind.  I constantly ruminate and wonder if I will ever be me again.  Anyone relate to this and does it get better.

 

Thanks for your support.

Hi:

My confidence level has been down the toilet ever since I started the benzos. I am just beginning to realize it by recently reading through old pre benzo and benzo journals. My confidence was teriffic before I took a pill. I'm sure what BBer's say here is true, that it will come back in spades. Keeping fingers crossed but am reassured it will return.