I didn't go through CBT with a therapist. I just read the first few chapters of The Feeling Good Handbook, then tried to establish a habit of confronting my negative feelings, and the thoughts that were feeding them by identifying the distortions in those thoughts.
YMMV, but it may be worth a try.
- builds a routine
- more effective than antidepressant drugs
- helps you sleep
- provides time for reflection
- forces you out into the world
- in the long run makes you better looking
- builds a work ethic
- builds self esteem
- helps you learn to concentrate
- gives you more energy to do things
- it develops motivation
- it reduces stress
If you have time for it, do it twice a day.
Especially you who seem to be in decent health (you're not american so I assume you're not morbidly obese or other issues).
Do 20 minutes of light exercise a day. Walk. If you have a bike, go bike. Too cold out? Find some stairs and just walk up and down them for 20 minutes.
Just do light exercise for a month, then think about goals.
Otherwise, 42 isn't too late to reproduce for a male. You appear debt free? Guess what, you're richer than most american.
I guess what I'm getting at is: don't beat yourself up if you go through the checklist and still feel bad. That's a sign that there are other external or internal factors that exercise won't address, and that therapy could help with.
Had to slip in the insult, didn't ya?
a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls
So OP, give yourself protected time and protect it.
Obesity is a global epidemic.[1][2]. It's has been a global issue for a very long time now. This is not new. It's odd that such an advocate of exercise doesn't understand this.
>"You appear debt free? Guess what, you're richer than most american."
It also seems odd and gratuitous that you felt the need to make two negative comments about America in a post about the benefits of exercise. It's even odder still considering you are responding to someone who clearly stated they prefer to go back to America and that they were actually happy there.
[1] https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113312
[2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and...
This is very true, and not always realized.
Another way I heard it said which is easy to remember: "You can't read the label from inside the bottle."
John Forbes Nash: Why not? Why can't I?
Dr. Rosen: Because your mind is where your problem is in the first place!”
- 'A Beautiful Mind'.
Sometimes we have internal parts that need love and care more than they need lecturing on cognitive distortions.
CBT is effective for many people which is great, but there are other options.
Personally, I found it helpful to read some of the books on these and related concepts, as a supplement to therapy. Also, it can be a frustratingly slow journey.
Then other thing is, no matter how smart you are, you can’t debug yourself, you need other people. If you have a distorted negative feeling of yourself, then when you try to fix yourself, you’ll be more inclined to feel something isn’t working or you are doomed the first time you hit a roadblock or relapse.
And ultimately sometimes medication can help you get through the initial hurdle of such negativity, another reason you need to see a professional to evaluate this.
Go check out YouTube and Wikipedia for some cognitive behavioral therapy sources to see if it might fit.