Feeling Overwhelmed by Your Illness

Being diagnosed with any serious illness can lead you down a long and bumpy road.  Even if you have suspected long before you got a firm diagnosis, having your doctor say “You have cancer” or “You have MS” or “You have COPD” can be a tremendous shock.  It certainly was for me.

A diagnosis of that kind tends to turn your life upside down initially.  Suddenly you have so many things to consider, or in my case, worry about.  What will this mean for me, short-term and long-term?  How will this affect my family?  Will I be able to work?  What happens if I can’t take care of myself?  What kinds of treatment are available to me?  Will I be able to afford those treatments?  Will I have to deal with a lot of pain?  The list of questions goes on and on, and it’s easy to find yourself in a situation where there are so many things to think about that you can’t concentrate on any one of them.

When I received my cancer diagnosis, I was shocked, angry and deeply saddened.  I knew that I had lots of things that I needed to take care of, so many that I found myself taking long naps in order to escape my reality.

My mind was constantly spinning from one thing to another, which meant that I never really spent the time that I needed to on any one issue.  The issues that go along with major illness are very difficult to think about, a big part of which has to do with facing your own mortality.

At first I resisted tapping about how overwhelmed I was.  I didn’t want to think about all those painful issues.  The book “Even Though I Have Cancer” by Emma Roberts really turned things around for me.  Reading all the insightful things that Emma had to say, as well as her lovely tapping scripts gave me a different perspective and moved me to start tapping.  Tapping bought me the peace of mind that I hadn’t had since my diagnosis.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed too, I’m hoping that the tapping script below will help.  It can also easily be modified for dealing with overwhelm not related to illness.

Tapping Script for Overwhelm

Setup – Karate chop:

• Even though I feel like my life is spiraling out of control, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
• Even though my illness is making my life so complicated that I don’t know how to deal with it, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
• Even though I’m completely overwhelmed right now, I’m open to the idea that this situation can change for the better, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
  

Reminder phrases:

Eyebrow: I’m sick, and that has turned my life upside down
Outside eye: I feel like I have no control over my own life
Under eye: I’m so overwhelmed that I don’t know which way to turn
Under nose: I can’t seem to get a handle on things, and that makes me feel worse
Chin: How can I concentrate on healing when I can’t think straight?
Collar bone: I need to focus on myself right now
Under arm: Maybe I can get rid of this feeling of overwhelm
Top of head: And find a place of peace and healing.

Eyebrow: That feeling of overwhelm keeps me from functioning
Outside eye: I’m ready to start letting go of that feeling
Under eye: Breathing out the overwhelm with every exhale
Under nose: And breathing in peace with every breath that I take
Chin: Releasing those feeling of confusion
Collar bone: Taking back control of my life
Under arm: I choose to be in a calm and healing place
Top of head: And I’m moving toward that place right now.

Eyebrow: I’m breathing in peace and relaxation
Outside eye: And I feel that sense of peace settling over my body
Under eye: My muscles are becoming more and more relaxed
Under nose: As I let go of more of the overwhelm and confusion
Chin: Letting go of the last of the overwhelm
Collar bone: And embracing a positive attitude about my health
Under arm: Now that I feel calm and in control, I can take better care of me
Top of head: I love being in this place of relaxation and healing.

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Blaming Yourself for Serious Illness

When you are diagnosed with any sort of serious illness, you go through many different feelings and emotions.  You question the fairness of life, and no… it isn’t fair.  You find yourself asking the question “Why me?”.  Most of us consider ourselves to be good people, and we certainly all know people who don’t fall under the category of good.  That leads to considering why something like that would happen to us.

For myself, and for many others too, this takes us down an uncomfortable path.  Could it possibly be that I deserve to be sick?

I was deeply shocked to realize that I truly did think that I deserved to be sick.  I thought back to all the bad things I had done in my life, and saw them as the reasons for the illness.  Suddenly it all made sense–if I had been a better person and lived a better life, I wouldn’t be sick now!

On a logical level, this may sound silly, but on a gut level it can feel very real.  For me, it was one more thing to worry about, in addition to all my ongoing physical problems…one more thing I didn’t need or want.

If you feel that you are to blame for your own illness, the tapping script below may help you to release those feelings.

TAPPING SCRIPT FOR BLAMING YOURSELF

Setup:

• Even though I feel like I am to blame for my own illness, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
• Even though I feel like if I were a better person, I wouldn’t be sick, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
• Even though a part of me feels like I deserve to be sick, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I’m open to the idea that I could be wrong about that.

Reminder phrases:

Eyebrow: I have nobody to blame but myself for being sick.
Outside eye: I deserve to be sick because I wasn’t always a good person.
Under eye: The things I did in my life earned me this illness.
Under nose: It’s very upsetting for me to think about, but this is my fault.
Chin: I hate feeling like this about myself.
Collar bone: I can’t seem to find peace about this issue.
Under arm: I hurt myself and everyone that I love.
Top of head: But maybe there’s a better way to look at this.

Eyebrow: I think that I caused this illness myself
Outside eye: But I’m willing to consider that might not be true
Under eye: I may not have always been perfect
Under nose: But I was the best person that I knew how to be
Chin: There must be some reason why I’m sick
Collar bone: But does anyone really deserve to be sick?
Under arm: Absolutely not!!!
Top of head: I can learn to cope with this illness without feeling guilty.

Eyebrow: My behavior did not cause my illness
Outside eye: I won’t waste my time and energy worrying about that
Under eye: I choose to focus on the positives in my life
Under nose: I can feel better physically and emotionally by keeping it positive
Chin: My decision is to forgive myself for anything that I feel I did wrong
Collar bone: Holding onto those negative feelings isn’t serving me well
Under arm: I choose to smile instead of cry
Top of head: My body responds to those smiles and that forgiveness, and I’m feeling better.

……………………………………………………………………………..

Tapping Support Group

Are you interested in becoming part of a tapping support group?  My personal focus is on cancer, but I know that a lot of the issues I am dealing with are common for anyone dealing with a serious disease.

The group would “meet” weekily on my conference line and there would be no charge to participate.  My hope is that we can support each other.

If you are interested in participating, please reply to pat@seeking-serenity.com .

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