Keeping up with it

[Guest guest]

Hey everybody,

I've been doing (or trying to do) the ACT thing for about 6 months now, and I

just want to know if anybody else has the problem I'm having?

That is, well, I'm finding it really hard to keep going with it consistently.

I'll be able to observe and defuse from my anxiety and make myself do things I

want to (i.e. study/diet) for about a couple of days, but then its like I forget

everything I've learned and go back into old habits of avoidance etc for a week.

Then I remember " oh shit, that's right, I've gotta be mindful and all that " and

get back on top for another couple of days before I " forget " all over again.

My progress has been really sporadic and its really frustrating. It's also

really frustrating that I only seem to be able to be mindful/whatever for a

period of 2 - 3 days before I'm back to experiential avoidance for a week or

two.

I told this to my therapist, but she just says " you gotta manage yourself with a

diary/practice defusion/practice mindfulness/observe yourself " etc, but my

problem is I do this for a bit then I 'forget' to do any of it for ages. I'm

aware that this 'forgetting' is probably me not catching myself out in my old

habits and then getting caught up in procrastinating/whatever till I become

aware of that again, but how do I stop myself doing that? I know its observation

and defusion, but how do I get better at that? Cause I feel like I'm really weak

at it.

I know its probably a thing you get better at with practice. Initially when I

started, with increasing practice I kept getting better, but I've been at this

for 6 months and its been ages since I got any better. I feel like I've

plateaued and its at a point that's well below where I wanna be.

How can I improve? How do you guys manage yourselves consistently? How do you

keep up with/practice mindfulness etc?

Does this question even make sense (I really had trouble with putting my problem

into words)?