At the beginning and prior to making the decision to seek professional help, I felt that I was lost.  Not just I focus but who I truly was.  There were a number of symptoms that I had become aware of….lack of sleep, lost focus as work and home and feeling anxious a lot of the time.    At the first counselling session it started to help me to understand that my head was just full up with ‘stuff’, so much so that I was struggling to process anything new.  It was great to understand that the ‘stuff’ was likely to have built up from unresolved issues from childhood through to now.  Going through my timeline was hard but I began to see that issues/events that I had buried in the subconscious needed to be voiced and dispersed.  With such a dysfunctional family this was hard and upsetting but also though provoking.  The hardest point was realizing that the grief of my parents passing was buried and suppressed.  During my counselling I was able to release my upset through no send letters and releasing balloons in their memory.  This was the most difficult that that I have done in a long time but the feeling of relief and the weight I felt lift from my shoulders was amazing!  Since the anniversary of my dad’s passing in November became a celebration rather than negative.  In a week’s time it will be a year since my Mum died, I am no longer dreading that day.   CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) principals has enabled me to change the way I think, my anxiety has fallen dramatically and my over reactions to situations are now minimal.  My new mantra is ‘ It is what it is!’