Safe to feel safe
Drawn from an email I sent to the support group...
Here's a thought I've lately been finding helpful to turn over in my mind.
It's safe to feel safe. In fact, it's even better than that! Chronically feeling unsafe keeps pause in place, which allows PD to progress. In that progression come the few medical risks that can develop with PD. Coming to feel safe allows pause to turn off and, as it stays off, essentially eliminates such risks. So it's not only safe to feel safe, it makes you even safer! 😁
Related to that is this thought, set up more or less in CBT terms... I think those of us dealing with pause often cling to an irrational belief along the lines, “I have to stay wary, vigilant, fearful, in order to quickly spot and deal with anything bad that might happen, any danger that might appear.” The more rational understanding would be that “I can just as easily spot anything bad happening if I'm feeling safe. My five senses will all be fully functional. In fact, since I'll be without the relative numbness pause produces I'll be even better able to feel anything happening in my own body.” So here again, feeling safe makes us even safer.
Pause is an ironic thing, isn't it?