You Are Not Alone – Anxiety

There are so many uplifting and inspiring stories of hope from people who have used Recovery International's self-help tools and support groups to change their lives. These stories inspire and show that there are answers to and ways of changing your quality of life for the better.

Recovery Has Given Me Solid Mental Health
As a child I was always anxious with stomach aches and headaches that would frequently keep me home from school. As I grew older although these symptoms abated, the core of free floating anxiety remained. Most often the thoughts were ones of dread: "What if I go to the party and feel sick?"  "What will happen if I feel dizzy in history class, shopping, etc.?"

My parents were alcoholics and when I was 19 my mother was hospitalized in Chicago for treatment. Part of that treatment was attending both AA and Recovery International meetings. When she was well enough to return home, she brought both her 12 steps book and Mental Health Through Will Training. When I visited her I would pick up Mental Health Through Will Training and leaf through it, impressed by the common sense philosophy as well as the obvious ways the Method was helping my mother, but I never thought it would ever be part of my own life as well. 

How wrong I was because when my anxiety attacks reappeared in 1976 and threatened to cripple me, it was Mental Health Through Will Training I turned to. Fortunately there was a Recovery group in my area and the discipline of weekly meetings helped me begin to get myself back together. However, it was reading a chapter every day and trying to practice the Method that opened the door to self-confidence that "feelings are not facts" and set me free.

The group I was part of disbanded after only a few years and I was on my own for another 25 before another one restarted. During this time I got a job in public education that I kept it for more than 20 years. Not once did I miss work because of panic attacks or other symptoms although there were many times that I had to practice "the will to bear discomfort” and to "know that I did not know."  In fact, I became so comfortable "wearing the mask" that never once did a student comment on how I might be looking or acting "odd."

I have been a member of Recovery International since 1976 and practicing the Recovery International Method is integral to my life. It is what guides my thoughts, my actions, and it has given me solid mental health. – Wendy Bell

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Recovery Taught Me to Do What I Feared and Hated
Anxiety was part of my life from the time I stated school. It continued to hamper me throughout my teenage years, college and marriage. I felt inadequate, helpless and finally hopeless when I first heard about Recovery International from a neighbor, I was barely functioning, but I read Mental Health Through Will-Training, which helped. However, after my fourth child was born, my anxiety became so severe that I required psychiatric help, including medication.

When I read a newspaper article about a Recovery International meeting near me, I made an effort to go. I was so impressed with what I learned that I attended additional meetings. I discovered that I was not alone and that my helplessness did not mean I was hopeless.

Because of my Recovery International training, I began using my muscles to do what I feared and hated to do. I also learned to trust my basic functions and to take the total view of myself. Consequently, I could see my accomplishments as well as my failures.

Thanks to Recovery International, life is worth living again. I am now a grandmother and have retired after working for the previous 25 years. I still attend meetings and do whatever possible to promote our organization. – Lana Mackellar

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Recovery Saved Me From A World of Depression and Anxiety
I was referred to Recovery International after a seven-week hospitalization for depression and anxiety. Because I now practice Recovery International’s self-help method, the past nine years of my life have been average and comfortable. While I formerly viewed everything as either “Mary Poppins optimistic” or “World War III disastrous”, I’ve learned that most of my upsets were trivial. Now I look for the good in myself and in others, and I enjoy life.

I’ve also learned to lower my standards. I have an average marriage. My expectations for my children changed from perfect behavior and high achievement to the realization that they are normal children of whom I could be proud. I shared the Recovery International Method with my husband and children (who are now adults). Along with me, they learned to look for effective mental-health options instead of working themselves up.

When I practice Recovery International, I receive wonderful rewards in the form of good feelings between my husband and me, and I get good vibes from my children because I’m not trying to manage or control them in every situation. Recovery International is great! – Joan Hallen

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