Dear Derek:

I am fine, thank you. Regarding your questions about my anxiety: I share about it quite a bit, throughout the months and years of my posting here. There is so much I shared, and I don’t want to make it long here, and go into a lot of that. I will say this: being mindful, this very morning, more and more mindful is the way to go. Mindfulness is a skill that develops over time, with practice. I am able to be this mindful today because I was mindful yesterday, and tomorrow I will be able to be yet… more mindful.

I am glad you have been kinder to yourself, focusing more on the positive and “feeling more positive in general”.

You are proud of you and I am proud of you too, for the fact that you removed yourself from that situation. You wrote: “..still managed to be conscious enough to remove myself from the situation”. Another word for conscious would be mindful.

Being more conscious or mindful of what is happening outside of you and inside of you is the vehicle to mental health.

I am glad you didn’t go back at 17, definitely a wise decision!

anita