Here is the point in which we stop to make a list of short and long-term goals. You might question why we would set goals. Wouldn’t this just add more pressure to an already anxious person? Yes, however, the goals we set here are meant to ease that pressure as you progress through them. When setting goals as a part of your crisis management plan, those goals should be start small and become progressively harder to achieve. If you are fresh out of a crisis, in the midst of one, or on the verge of one, start with a goal for the day. That goal might be to do one journal entry before bed. Make the effort to do that. Tomorrow set a goal to do two things. Each day add one more, small achievable daily goal.
Do this for a few weeks, and once you feel stronger, more confident, and ready, keep those daily goals going, and a weekly goal. Just one goal that you can’t achieve in a day. Maybe there is a closet in your home that needs to be organized or cleaned. Make that your goal for the week, to clean and organize the hall closet that is cluttered. Repeat the same steps you did with your daily goals, and choose a new task to complete each week. Start small with your weekly projects and work towards larger ones. As your goals increase, these goals might become two-week goals, or monthly goals.
Why are we building a list of goals when we are fighting to get out of bed? To always make sure that we are moving forward. If today, you didn’t want to get out of bed, and you didn’t, tomorrow’s goal should be to get out of bed for at least a few hours. The day after that, it should be to get out of bed a few hours more than you did the day before. The key is to progressively get back to your normal life. Eventually, the objective is to live abundantly as we were intended to. This takes time, and with effort, you will get there.
I started with a goal of not acting on the thoughts I had of harming myself, and I got to a place where I set a goal to help others to never ever get to the place I where they though that way. I’m not a special person, at least, I am not more special than any person who might be reading this, so if I can survive a suicide attempt, and live a fulfilling life, so can everyone else. SO CAN YOU!
