Sanguine Saturday in Ireland

Goodness! Here I am in the United Kingdom! It's been a huge week for me. I suspect that's going to be true of every week for the next little while. ;) I've been in Belfast since Monday, and I head to London tomorrow.

I feel so much more brave and confident here, it's amazing. I realised at some point just how far away my father is right now and it was like a coat of anxiety that I took off. I don't have to worry about him calling or turning up or anything at all like that, I don't have to be so terrified that anything I do or say will be carried back to him through his connections. I'm half a world away and it's wonderful.




Success Stories:
No burning.
No drinking.
Actually, no self harm of any kind!
I spent an entire day sitting with some incredibly uncomfortable feelings.
When I started getting overwhelmed I followed my RPP.
I handled an incredibly stressful situation -- due to delays on my first flights & a loooong hold up at UK Border Security, I missed my connecting flight to Ireland and was told that I would have to pay around $500 (au) in order to take a flight that day as there were no economy seats left. Not what you want to hear 29 hours after you've left your home airport! After reaching out for support and help (another success!), I was able to use my skills to return to the BMI desk and ask to be placed on standby -- a quick explanation and the lovely man there put me straight on a plane that I'd been told was booked solid for economy. (And I later counted at least a half dozen empty seats...)
I've been using my skills a lot to manage anxiety and other uncomfortable feelings.



Gratitudes/Happy Things:
Kindness
Amazing people
Soft toys
Ice cream vending machines
Huge-normous stores that have EVERYTHING in them!
Photography
Making memories of a good kind
Beautiful sights
Climbing inside the ruins of castles and towers and amazing things that were started as early as the 12th century, and touching it and feeling that history singing through the stones.




Challenge and cheer-leading statements:
I've come across the other side of the WORLD. I can do [whatever] too!
Who says I don't deserve this?
I'm an okay person.
It's okay to look after myself.




Apologies for the lack, but no outward links again this week. I think I probably will post less links while I'm away, but feel free as always to link in a comment to my SS posts if you do your own version! I still want to read and I'm sure others do, too!



Take care of yourselves until next time, and may we all find our own small fences along the way.