For as long as I can remember I have dealt with various forms of generalized anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. Before I became a slave or even knew what a slave was, I tried to deal with my various mental problems/hang ups in unhealthy ways.
I chose the vanilla route and copied what all the other college kids were doing around me. No one stopped me and said, “What you are doing will never help you.” Because of this, I just kept on going down the vanilla path, hoping that something would give and I would get better.
When I met my Master, I knew I wanted to make some serious changes. I knew I didn’t want to be riddled with so much anxiety and fear on a daily basis. I realized that life is too short for that, especially now that I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I Couldn’t Control My Own Anxiety
I also realized that I was not at a point where I could take control of my anxiety by myself. I needed my Master to take control of it to a certain degree, and to work with me on it just as much as I was.
I know this might sound selfish on my part, and maybe it was, but it was what I needed at the time and knew I was too weak to face my mental disorders alone.
This is honestly how we got into our M/S dynamic officially. I was stressed about something that in retrospect now seems quite trivial. My Master came home from work to find me nearly breaking down. This kind of thing had happened before, and I knew I never wanted to greet my Master with kind of meltdown again.
I told him, “I have been trying to battle this on my own for years, and you are stronger than me, wiser than me, have more experience than me, and are more stable than me. Can you please take control of my life because I know at this point I am too unstable to?”
He agreed but didn’t know if I was entirely serious or not. The next day I began writing down all the rules we had already established and began researching more into the M/S dynamic. I was amazed at how much we had already been doing that would be considered M/S. We just weren’t labeling it as anything.
After a few weeks of talking and researching, we both realized that M/S was the right choice for us.
The moment I asked my Master to take ownership of me was the most humbling and meaningful moment of my life. All my life I had been trying to face my problems alone without knowing how to face them. Just the fact that my Master accepted the challenge I had presented him with reduced my anxiety.
Being my Master’s slave has helped my anxiety so much because I no longer have to worry about decisions concerning me. Because of this, I can more easily focus on the tasks that I want to get done.
Our M/S relationship also helps to prevent new stressors from occurring. My Master has to approve everything I do. So as long as I am following his orders and rules, I know that I never have to feel any anxiety concerning us.
My Master also takes an active role in my recovery.
We have rules that specifically target my anxiety and OCD. I am often given assignments to complete and reading to do. I also attend therapy regularly. My Master oversees my entire physical and mental health, which also helps to put me at ease.
For example, in our home, we have a compulsion board. Every time I am triggered by something and I don’t compulse, I tell my Master and I get a sticker. If I do compulse, I tell my Master and I must complete an Automatic Thought Record (This is a form of CBT. Feel free to look it up for a more detailed explanation.) My Master sets the number of stickers he would like earned each month and a number of ATL’s that I must be under. If I stay under the ATL limit and achieve the set amount of stickers, I get a reward.
This has been a really helpful tool because it allows us to track my progress throughout the months. It also provides a visual record of my progress, and the rewards are a great way to celebrate my hard work. It always makes me proud when I achieve my monthly goal.
Mindfulness is also big in our home. My Master will often ask me to meditate on my collar in times of stress. He has also trained me to say, “Master loves me and everything is okay” when he puts his hand on my cheek.
I do not think the rules alone help my recovery. I think what really makes the difference is how much my Master cares if I am getting better, how he always makes time to communicate with me and listen to me regarding my recovery, and the fact that he checks in with me about my emotional state on a daily basis- most of the time multiple times a day.
It was love, care, and commitment that motivated my Master to take on the role of being my Master with such grace. He was never deterred or scared. He consistently holds me to my rules, including the recovery ones, and no matter what he has going on, he always makes time to help me.
It’s not just my Master though. Like any vanilla or kink relationship, both parties need to be equally dedicated. I am always reading, researching, presenting my findings to my Master, and am always motivating myself to practice what I have learned. Slaves cannot just sit back and let their Masters’ do all the work. I would never get better that way. Master has the final say, and offers me all his wisdom and guidance, but I still have to put in a lot of work to better myself.
However, I would not be able to achieve any of this without my Master. He is the motivation behind my recovery 100 percent.
I hope this article gets you thinking about ways one can use power exchange relationships to ease anxiety. In part two, I will go further in detail into anxiety-reducing protocols.
About the Author:
Slave Bunny, a 1950’s power slave, is involved in a wonderful and loving TPE 24/7 M/S relationship with her Master and husband. She is also the Creative Director of Kink Weekly.
She has dedicated her life to working on herself mentally, spiritually, and physically, and hopes to inspire others to do the same. Through teaching and mentoring, she hopes to help everyone in the Kink community as much as she can.
Feel free to add her on Fetlife (Slave_Bunny992) to see her upcoming workshops and classes.
Leave a Reply