Rinse and Repeat

Not literally rinse and repeat, it’s just an analogy for same shit, different day.

So I guess a lot has gone on since I last blogged.

I’ve left a few jobs, had a bit of a breakdown mentally a few weeks ago and yeah, I guess I have been avoiding admitting that I have been quite depressed for some time.

At the moment I’m not working, so that’s why I feel like life is just on rinse and repeat.

I do try to find different things to fill my day. But there are some days I just don’t want to get out of bed and I just want to sleep the whole day away.

So let’s get back to the breakdown. I think it was triggered by a lot of stress and ongoing depression and just feeling lost and not being able to find a job that I was invested enough in to stick at. I had been having intense nausea leading up to my breakdown and I thought that was just my weird stomach. Turns out it was just that I was really quite stressed and it was showing by means of intense nausea. I went through a period of barely being able to eat and my sleep was terrible and it was just a vicious cycle repeating itself. It got so bad that on my lunch break at the job I was doing at the time, that just trying to chew food was making me nearly vomit. So I ended up finishing work that day at lunch. I then made the decision to leave that job and that was basically when my mental health took a huge dive.

My physical health with the nausea had been so bad before leaving the job, that I had taken several days off and been in A&E a few times. First time just because the nausea was so bad I couldn’t handle it and was desperate for some help. Which was basically just being given anti nausea medication and sent on my way. Then the second time was because I felt desperate and a bit suicidal, because I couldn’t sleep or eat and the nausea was unbearable.

All the stress was messing with my sleep and I would wake up sweating, with my heart feeling like it was going crazy and then I’d feel really cold and start shivering and would also be on the verge of blacking out, which was really scary.

At times my heart was going so crazy, or so I thought, that I thought I was going to have a heart attack and I was really freaked out, so I called an ambulance. They checked me out and everything was fine.

Everything just got too much the next day, in the early hours of the morning and I was at breaking point. Crying loudly and sobbing very loudly. So I called the crisis mental health team and they got an ambulance to take me to A&E and I was just left there for a good 20 mins or so, sobbing loudly and rocking back and forth and being ignored by all the staff who actually had zero patients. Which I thought was really fucked up.

Eventually a doctor came and saw me and told me the crisis team were still a while away and I said “look I am just not going to be able to cope until then”. So he asked if I would like something to help calm me down and I said “yes please”. So he gave me some Lorazepam and once that kicked in, it was the first time I had actually felt calm for weeks.

I did end up in respite a few times last month, which was somewhat helpful. As I couldn’t handle the stress of being at home in the caravan and all the stress that goes with that. Plus I was not able to bring myself to eat at home. So respite was nice. It was nice to be able to go to the toilet whenever you like and not have to worry about having a cassette to empty (caravan’s that don’t have a built in toilet have a portable toilet which needs emptying). It was also nice to have a shower with no time limit. As my shower in my caravan only has about 5 mins worth of hot water, so my showers at home are very fast.

So back to why I think I had a breakdown mentally. I think it was a mix of a few things. I had been depressed for months, had nausea every morning and that was pretty unpleasant. I had started and left quite a few jobs. I felt lonely and like I only really had 1 or 2 friends and only 1 reliable one, who is my ex partner. I felt really lost after going through so many jobs. It messed with my confidence. I also haven’t seen my kids for a while and that makes me feel like utter shit. I feel like I am failing them by not seeing them often. I was totally overwhelmed with all the stuff that goes with living in a caravan. Once I had decided to leave the last job I just totally freaked out. I was constantly panicked trying to work out how to make ends meet and if I could afford to live and pay my bills and eat and see the kids.

Then there was the decision to try go back to the Commercial Road Transport course and whether I can afford to do that. As I thought I could just apply and start while being on the benefit. But then I went to the pre course interview and I was told I have to go on Studylink. So I’m still waiting to hear back about that.

Honestly the last time I felt happy and content in life was when I was doing pilot driving at Downer. So when I ended up just getting put on Traffic Control work I ended up feeling really over working there. As I really loved the pilot driving and I actually enjoyed going to work when I did that job.

Honestly I feel lonely not having someone to share my life with. It’s no surprise who I want that person to be.

It’s been just over 18 months since he left me and granted it needed to be done for both of our sakes. But he’s got his shit sorted and I’m still trying to find my place. Though I have grown a lot and changed immensely and I am very proud of my changes.

We have both been trying to learn the Cha Cha. Though that’s pretty difficult in my caravan. I have a dvd that is for beginners, but I need more space to practise. I can use one of the spaces here where I live, I just need to book a time to use it when it’s free.

I have been trying to learn Latin with this app called Duolingo. I’m doing ok at it. But sometimes I just get a bit over getting many sentences wrong. Though despite the frustration I keep persisting.

At the moment I’m on Quetiapine to help with sleep. Which seems to be working well and on the plus side, it seems to mean waking in the morning with no nausea which is awesome! As the nausea was so unbearable before. I have also been prescribed Lorazepam for the panic attacks. So I use that when I feel overwhelmed and start getting into freak out mode.

I feel like I am able to get out there and do normal things again. As it was so bad last month or whenever all this stuff happened, that I couldn’t handle going to the supermarket, pharmacy, doctor or even leaving the caravan. I was also struggling to make myself food or eat. I just basically had no interest in eating.

I remember waiting to see the doctor and just being in such a panic and when I saw her for whatever reason I was there, I was crying most of the time.

I’ve been wanting to write about all this for a few weeks now, but just couldn’t find the motivation to actually blog.

My ex partner has been really supportive during this time, which has been great. My mum goes between being supportive and critical. I was in tears over something she said yesterday. I can’t even remember what. But I had a good text exchange with my ex about everything and that helped me chill out. I can’t help but love him, he’s been there for me through a lot and his support and advice mean a lot to me.

He says he wants to build a life with me, but I need to get my shit sorted. Which is fair. As teammates should be equal contributors to the relationship. As in the past it was quite one sided and I took more then I gave.

I had to learn to love myself and be by myself and be ok with that. Plus I had a few unresolved issues that I really needed to work through.

I’ve definitely discovered how strong and resilient I can be.

That’s all for now. Until the next time I find something worth blogging about.

Thanks for reading 🙂

9th November 2021

Could not think of a title, so today’s date will do

And now I’ve put the time aside to blog, I don’t know what to write about. Which is so frustrating. As when I want to blog and I’ve got a fair amount I want to post about, I’m usually too tired or I just feel like I don’t have enough time to really explore everything

I should probably start by turning off the TV, as it’s a tad distracting

And I’m still sitting and thinking, what to write about, probably like an hour later

Oh well, if I get too tired while trying to write a post I can always come back to it tomorrow

Ok, yeah so I’ve got some stuff to write about now

Last week I was having a lot of emotions. As my other rat Dusty passed away exactly a week ago and that was really hard. As I had got quite used to having him snuggle with me. I knew he was heading towards passing away gradually over the past few weeks, so I had been having him sleep with me a lot of the time and just snuggle with me. The day he passed away I knew he was going to likely pass soon, but still nothing ever prepares you for when it happens. I was glad I was awake and there for his final moments, even though it’s so hard when you know your little buddy is taking his last breathes

Definitely the hardest part was handing him over to the lady to have him cremated. I arrived there and had several minutes where I just sat in the car crying and not really wanting to part with him. I cried a lot just driving over from home to take him there. I just really didn’t want to part with him and to say goodbye. Just wanted him with me forever. Just writing about it is making me cry a lot

Then I was also feeling stressed and stuck last week because I’m not working at the moment and that’s a hard place for me to be in. As then I often get into freak out mode and I’m like what do I want to do going forward, will I be good at it, will I fail, what if I’m no good at it, what if I’ve just fooled myself into thinking I can do and what if I really can’t. Then there’s the fear of financial uncertainty

Then I end up getting all stressed about where I stand with my ex partner and if he actually wants a relationship with me and I read too much into things and have a stress out and get all anxious and then I bombard him with I dunno how many text messages because I’m feeling uncertain and anxious. Then he wonders where the hell that randomly came from. So then I find myself trying to do damage control on my emotional outburst and somehow explain where my head is at and how I got to where my mind was at. While still very much being stuck in my emotional brain and not thinking very rationally and trying to calmly talk to him. Argh! Emotions! Seriously they hijack me hard out sometimes. Whether I am or am not ADHD, I certainly know I have trouble with my executive function for sure. Like sometimes I’m curious as to what I might function like if I were to take someones ADHD medication. I wonder if that would bring me relief from this mess inside my mind sometimes. Though I am certainly not saying it’s a wise idea to take others medication or medication that’s not prescribed to you. I guess it’s more of an experiment I’m curious about. Though also, I am quite anti medication when it comes to myself. As my experience with being on Venlafaxine in the past for I think about 7 years, it ended up making me wonder how safe medication is for me. I certainly feel like that medication started off helping me and ended up hindering me and very much messing with my life, my personality, my growth and my ability to heal. Though granted not having medication to calm the storm of my emotions and have a taper on the intensity has not always been easy either. Sure, it has shown me that I am more capable then I realised and it has shown I am quite resilient and strong, but it has been quite a difficult journey at times. Also though, when I think about how unmotivated that medication made me and how I just wasn’t present, I don’t miss it

Emotions aye?! They are sneaky little buggers sometimes. I feel like sometimes they just sneak up on you and bam! You’re just in this sea of emotions, feeling a bit like you’re drowning in them. Like sometimes they just get so overwhelming you just can’t see the end of them and you get a bit scared and worry they will just stay and that’s scary. But thankfully, they are like the sea and waves and they do crash and ease and become still and calm

I just hate how much of a fool I can make of myself when I’m stuck in them. Like I just don’t think rationally and I overthink and overreact and get overwhelmed and I just can’t think clearly. But when someone from the outside is like “what’s going on here?”, I’m kind of distracted by that and forced to actually try engage my rational brain again and work out, what is going on here and why. And usually, eventually I work it out and can attempt to explain it

Like I know for sure drinking too much on Friday night did not help! It was more the next day the consequences show up. I just felt ill all of Saturday and just couldn’t eat a thing and just had no energy and I was just useless all day. And drinking so much is toxic to your body and your brain, as it drains all the nutrients and just leaves you in a bad place physically and mentally. Definitely the hangover and the loss and stress of that week contributed to my emotional outburst

Sometimes I feel many pressures, some from myself, some from family and it all just gets too much for me and it just explodes out of me with these emotional outbursts

I guess I keep a lot in. As I’m not sure who I should talk to about some things. As family sometimes isn’t the best option, as I feel sometimes some of my family can gaslight and that they aren’t particularly encouraging and the fucked up thing is, I don’t know if they can even see that they aren’t showing love, care and support. As they are used to that looking a certain way to them and they don’t seem to realise they are being pretty harsh and unsupportive

There are certainly times where I need a break from some of my family and their toxicity. And the fucked up thing is they don’t even realise they are being toxic

I feel sometimes family can certainly unknowingly gaslight you and act in a toxic way because they are unhappy in their own life and it’s almost as if, when there are things out of their control in their own life, they try to compensate by controlling your life and messing with your life. And some of the nastiness I feel is intentional on some level. Like, oh things might be looking up for you, how about I just knock you down a few steps and give you a reality check and make you second guess yourself and others. I dunno, maybe I’m wrong and they don’t know that’s what they are doing. I know either way, when I try pull certain family members up on their behaviour I get a response like “why are you so grumpy?”, “why are you in a mood today?” or some comment that is dismissive. I have had a particular family member say some pretty fucking petty stuff about someone I care about recently and I told them that kind of behaviour is not on and there’s no need for it at all. Seriously, some adults act like fucking children sometimes! Out of respect for my family I won’t say some things that I’d like to on here, as I think some things should just remain private. But yeah, one particular family member has been really getting to me a lot this year, especially lately

Back to my wonderful ex. He’s gives some pretty good advice aye. He has a good perspective on things and I like that often some of the things I struggle with, he also has had similar struggles, not in a bad way I mean, just in that he can offer reassurance and guidance because he gets it. Like things I may be worrying about, he will say, yup I know that feeling too and I know how scary that is and why it scares you, so here’s my advice. I like that he gets me and he has a good understanding of some of my struggles, as they are some of his struggles too. He’s very supportive and I really appreciate that a lot. As I do lack that support from my family to be honest. I feel from my family I get more criticism then support. It’s nice to have someone who can just be supportive and positive and who can offer encouragement. It definitely helps, especially when you have been feeling worn down by others being the opposite

I’m really proud of him and how far he’s come this last year. He’s achieved a lot and grown a lot and he’s proven a lot to himself about his capabilities. I always believed in him, so it’s great to see him believing in himself too and seeing him fulfil his potential and be winning in life. Honestly, so proud of him

I’m going to be honest here. I don’t know if he might read this in the future or not, but it doesn’t matter. I’m sure he would be flattered, not mad lol

It’s quite hard when I’m hanging out with him and I have to just behave and keep my hands to myself and I’m not meaning that in a sexual way either, in case anyones dirty minds went there. It’s more just wanting to hold his hands or snuggle with him or kiss him. It’s like, argh! I want to do those things, but I can’t. I need to respect his boundaries and wait til he says it’s ok. And yes of course I do also think about him sexually and want to make advances that way. But I find respecting the boundaries with sex easier, as that can all wait and I understand that probably causes confusion and amps up the emotions and that kind of thing is not fair to add to the mix at this point. But the cuddles, I really miss the cuddling, the snuggling, the holding hands, the kissing. Just the cute little intimate stuff

I’m really proud of me also. I know I have grown a lot in the last year and I have achieved so much and I’ve gained so many new skills and proved many people wrong about me and I’ve done a lot of growing up. The person I am now, I love her and I was sad that I lost her for many years. Like I always knew my heart was pure and kind and life just put me through some shit and I got a bit lost and jaded and guarded. I have always known my heart and my deep down good nature. That’s why I would always feel so crushed and hurt when people would think ill of me. It was like the worst kind of rejection. As it was a rejection based on their perception of you and it was a very wrong perception. I just could never really understand why people would think I was something other then a nice, decent, kind person. But I can only guess, some of my actions along the way may have portrayed me in a negative light. Or maybe it was as simple as, they just didn’t know the real me. And for many of years of my life, I think others rejection of me ended up rubbing off on me and I rejected myself for some time and I thought ill of myself also and I thought maybe they were right and I at times hated myself and thought myself evil and bad. Though I know who I am now and I think I always have deep down and I know that person is pretty awesome

But do you ever feel like, when you are ok with you and you love you, that maybe you’re a bit egotistical?… Like, yeah, I’m so awesome! Like if it’s conceded? I think though, if you are thinking all those things, then you probably aren’t egotistical or conceded. As if you were, you wouldn’t question it

And just to throw a spanner in the works, because I got briefly distracted by an email about a Reddit post about the protests at parliament

Where do I stand on all that?

Well I am fully vaccinated. But for me, that was actually more about desperation to get back to work when the whole country went into lockdown in August, I think it was August at least. As I found lockdown was really messing with my mental health and as I worked for a company that was deemed an essential service and I was a temp at the time, I figured during level 3 at least, they would tend to give the temps work that were vaccinated. So for me, that was the only reason really. As previous to the lockdown, even if I were eligible, I didn’t really care either way about vaccination. So it was purely related to ensuring I could still work for me

But I certainly have my own opinions about all this media and push towards vaccinations and all the restrictions. To me, as a christian, it feels very reminiscent of end of times videos and prophecies and Revelations type stories. It’s kind of scary

I do feel like it is very much a dictatorship and very communist

To me it feels like, play by these rules or we will take away your freedoms

So I definitely understand why people choose not to get vaccinated and why they may protest to stand up for their freedoms

Fact is, none of the people I know have had covid or delta, so none of us realistically know if it’s bad or how bad it might be. We only know what the media has told us and certainly in the U.S there has been a lot of grossly exaggerated results and even deaths, that weren’t even covid. There’s certainly a lot of misinformation out there and a fair amount of fabrication and lying. This much I do know

Like, fuck, they tell us to get these vaccinations and they only later tell us that they don’t protect you from contracting or passing on Delta. It only lessens it’s effect on you. So it certainly doesn’t get rid of the virus at all. And of those unvaccinated, yes it will effect them worse, but are they actually going to die from it if they don’t having underlying health conditions?

Then you find out that a lot of the people who died of Covid-19, what they were using to treat patients actually ended up causing them to die sooner. The ventilators were actually making things worse

There’s still certainly many unanswered questions and unknown’s

So, yeah, I understand why the vaccinations, but also it scares me how much control this government has and I definitely understand why people want to fight back, ask more questions and challenge it

Ok, well I didn’t plan to get onto that subject, but yeah, there you go. That’s my stance and observation on that

I think I’ll go to sleep now

One more thing. Just a quick note to anyone reading. Remember, things can always get better, no matter how hard life is and what it’s thrown at you. You can always re-write your story and have a good life

Feeling Stuck, Overwhelmed, Lost

Actually putting in the time to write a post is hard. I just get overwhelmed and everything is an effort

Just even thinking about actioning any desire to post makes me anxious sometimes

Sometimes my level of anxiety about doing things just overwhelms me and stops me from taking any action

I’ve been feeling kind of in a funk at work lately. Just very over my job and how simple and unchallenging it is. I feel like it doesn’t require a whole lot of skill and most people could do it. Also been feeling unappreciated at work also. Seems a bit of a popularity contest at times. As it seems the well liked and more popular group of people seem to stick up for their buddies and let management know they are doing a good job. Doesn’t seem to matter if I am doing just as good a job or better. After nearly 4 months, not once has there been any feedback telling me I’m appreciated and doing a good job

I expressed this frustration to a work colleague and she has felt the same with regards to herself and her effort and not being appreciated or acknowledged. She did at least say she considers me to be a hard worker with a great work ethic, so it’s good to be told someone sees it

I also talked to my temp agency about this frustration and he says the place I’m working at does sing my praises and appreciate me. And I’m like, yeah great, but why do they never bother to let me know this? Why do they seem to only show appreciation for the popular bunch?…

With my job I feel very unchallenged also and I feel like they are just going to leave me in the mundane job I’m doing, despite that not being the job I was hired to do and despite me making it very clear I need a challenge and I would like to be in other roles. I guess I just don’t feel heard or appreciated. Also, despite having an interview over a month ago, I have heard nothing. So it leads me to believe they have chosen someone else over me, because I have other commitments and can’t do weekends

Like I understand they are a business and why they would prioritize others who can do more hours. But I do a better job then several of those others and I don’t slack off and get paid for doing minimal. I actually do my job very well and don’t slack off at all

I am putting in the effort to upskill myself, as it seems I’m just not getting the opportunities at work, so I have to effect change myself

I know myself well and when I am getting depressed at work and hating my job, it’s hard to focus and to want to stick at it. So as an adult who is responsible for steering my own ship, I’m doing something about it

I’ve had a lot going on lately. I’ve moved out of the flat I was in, have moved into a caravan, which is a huge change and such a huge adjustment, which at times feels like a lot and is hard to feel at ease with

I have felt judged by my oldest daughters grandparents, as they thought it was a step backwards and lets just be honest, they are kind of being closed minded snobs about the whole caravan thing and where I have relocated to. Yeah, I get it, they worry. But it’s not really fair for them to make assumptions and judgements without actually talking to me and seeing where things are at in my life. They basically freaked out and thought it was me going backwards. I had to explain to them that I am actually paying $10 more a week where I am now and it was the most affordable option for someone living alone. Rent is high these days and living alone in even just a 2 bedroom flat is way more expensive then it was when I moved in to the old flat. I paid $320 per week and now that same size and same location is $430-$480 per week and that was just not affordable on a single wage

Then there were other stresses with my own family and how my mother feels about my younger 2 kids and their shyness and reluctance to converse with her or others. And granted, I get it that it’s not ideal. But basically telling 2 young kids that they are rude, yelling at them and calling their father a loser who is fucking up their life, is the wrong way to approach these concerns. And using tough love as an excuse and saying you’re not going to pussy foot around the subject, is not being responsible for your words and actions. And all the kids hear, is you’re bad and your dad is a bad person. I urged my mother to be more mindful of her language and the consequences of what she said. She just got on the defensive. Yes I did say to her that her tough love screwed me up and she didn’t like hearing that, but I am allowed to speak my truth and assert myself. She felt like using tough love on me while I was growing up would make me tougher. I told her, no, I was a sensitive and emotional child and that was actually more damaging then anything else

I do make a point of acknowledging that I know all this comes from a place of love, so she knows it is seen and appreciated that she tries, even if the delivery is wrong

Parents have a hard time taking advice from their adult children. I feel like they feel disrespected sometimes when an adult child asserts themselves. Sadly their reactions are a result of their own upbringing. Some of us are just breaking the unhelpful cycles of possibly generations of harsh parenting

Tough love has it’s place yes. But a wise person knows when to employ it and when to hold your tongue. Words are damaging

Saying your granddaughter has an attitude for expressing an opinion that differs from yours is also not fair. Neither is pushing someone and trying to force your opinion on someone while they are asking for space and to be left alone. Especially if that person is having a very obvious panic attack and trying to find ways to calm themselves

It was a very hard night for me having 2 of my girls in tears, having panic attacks and trying to keep everything calm and protect them. That experience did wear on me a lot. That was also the same weekend my oldest daughters granddad expressed his concerns and judgement, so it was a lot to handle

So all of that passed and it was meant to be back to work, but then I had a little accident on my motorbike and broke a part on my motorbike and injured my foot. Apparently it’s a temporary dislocation of some bone in my right foot. So as a result I’ve not been able to work all week

So everything just built up and was a lot to handle. The moving and feeling vulnerable here by myself. The feeling isolated as I’m in a different part of NZ now. The stress of the other weekend. The lack of satisfaction and lack of appreciation at work. The injuring myself. The drain on myself physically while I’m healing and also the lack of uncertainty with not being able to work and now relying on a ridiculously small amount of money from WINZ to survive on and how I will get by while I’m doing a 2 week Wheels, Tracks and Rollers course. So yesterday I was a bit of a mess. Crying a lot of the day, feeling like utter shit, no motivation in doing anything

Got a bit needy and insecure and was begging my ex to come hang out with me. Which isn’t really fair or enjoyable for him. Then I cause him to worry about me and that’s not a burden I want to put on him

I guess I give him confusing and mixed messages at times by laying all my crap on him. Like I think he feels responsible for trying to come up with a solution or a way to fix the problems I express. All I am really wanting is to share how I’m feeling. But I think I have trouble with getting the right balance. Like I want to be fair to him and his needs and not burden him. Sometimes I think I am too busy trying to get out of my funk and I don’t realize how laying my crap on others might feel for them or drain them or ware on them

He said he feels sometimes like he’s just a dumping ground for my crap and yeah that’s not fair

He is the only person I feel is a true friend and who I can actually rely upon. He very much has my back and has always supported me and encouraged me and he’s the one person I trust the most. I trusted him with my heart, my vulnerability and the mess I used to be and he certainly stepped up and proved he was the only person deserving of that trust and vulnerability. I do honestly feel like people like him only come by once in a lifetime and that you should make sure they know how special they are to you and that they are appreciated and seen and supported

One of my rattos died earlier this week and that was really unexpected and hard to deal with. He was pretty special to me and he had a special relationship with me. As I was the only person he ever bonded with. He was quite a shy boy. His name was Shadow. So that’s been quite hard losing him and now I’m worried about his brother Dusty, as Dusty is looking like he might be on his way out too. Just looking at him now he looks a bit concerning. Like he might be on his last legs. But sometimes I get it wrong and they’ve still got a bit more life left in them. I just got extra worried, as yesterday he fell out of his basket

I feel like sometimes I’m all over the place with my thinking and writing and that maybe it’s hard to follow and wonder if it makes sense. I also think too much and overthink, so yeah, that doesn’t help

Anyway, I got this. Everything is alright, even when it all feels like too much and everything is always fine in the end. And I can always take back control when things feel out of control and tomorrow is a new day and the future is always full of new possibilities and I am responsible for my happiness

Anyway, I should probably get some sleep soon

ADHD?…. Maybe

So, I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks and watching a few YouTube videos on ADHD lately, specifically a channel called “How to ADHD”

So much of it is resonating strongly with me

What prompted me to look into this was partly because my ex partner was diagnosed last year with adult ADHD and also a passing comment from him, along the lines of “do you think you may be ADHD?” He didn’t really think much into his comment, but I did and I started wondering and also, when we were together, I wanted to understand his experience as an adult with ADHD, so I could best support him and, as he is still very much in my life I always want to continue to support him

I now understand how my past behaviours would trigger him and why

Upon listening to a few audiobooks, one on women with ADHD and one on ADHD as a superpower (those aren’t the names of the audiobooks by the way), and upon watching a few “How to ADHD” YouTube videos, they really speak to me and man, they touch me and they make me cry, as it’s like, man that’s me! And though I have yet to be diagnosed, I feel like ADHD explains me perfectly and my quirks and also I can see how easily it can be misdiagnosed as Bipolar, BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder) or Major Depressive Disorder. The symptoms look very similar, though the rate at which the emotions change and moods change, seem to be a lot faster with ADHD

The names of the 2 audiobooks are ‘Faster Than Normal – Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain’ and ‘Women with Attention Deficit Disorder’

There are a couple of terms mentioned in the YouTube channel “How to ADHD” that describe some behaviours and thinking patterns I relate to, which are: Rejection Sensitivity Disorder and Imposter Syndrome. I’ll try remember to link to the videos in a future blog post, as I’m way too tired to explain them. It was hard enough trying to force myself to pause the audiobook so I could actually start this blog post. I had the laptop open with the title for like 3 hours probably before I stopped getting distracted and finally paused

I plan to try see a therapist in the next few weeks and get an actual diagnosis. I will be very surprised if I am not diagnosed as ADHD, as I feel quite sure I am. As all the information I’ve gathered or listened to lately all points towards ADHD explaining much of my early life and adult life with resonating accuracy

I would like to try explain everything I have learned about it lately, but I’ve got so much to do tomorrow and then I’ve got work til Friday and it’s really hard finding any spare time before the weekend to blog. On the plus side, yay, I have a job and I’ve been working there nearly 2 months now and really enjoying it and I also have a motorbike again, which I got on Friday. Super happy about that. I have been going through a fair few stresses lately, so I’m glad for the silver linings

Basically found out I’ll have to move, as the landlord is selling this flat and had a creep sexually harassing me, verbally and I had to call the police and that experience has shaken me a bit and made me very anxious and I feel unsafe and paranoid at times. I’m told it’s called a Trauma Response and it’s very normal. So yeah, that’s not been great. But on the plus side, I have to move and moving away from this place is definitely positive, but it’s just stressful timing wise

I’m just not sure what to do regarding moving on from here. Whether to look for a flat or go flatting or buy a caravan. I’ve been feeling too overwhelmed by everything to even think about my next step to be honest

I better get some sleep. I have to clean the house tomorrow, as the real estate people are coming through on Tuesday morning. It was not ideal how short notice I was given, so I’ve had to ask to take Monday off work, which I ideally don’t like doing

Thanks for reading. Good Night 🙂

Enough

Being ‘Enough‘ is such food for thought and such a huge thing for me, that I have been dealing with for so much of my life.

Out of fear of never being ‘enough’ I have most definitely leaned towards the default coping mechanism in the past of good old self sabotage. That whole trying to protect yourself out of a deep fear of rejection and fear of the unknown. Self sabotage is such a bitch. But we learn it usually from a young age and it’s due to someone significant in our life leaving or dying or letting us down in a big way. It teaches us, this let down by someone significant, that things can go wrong unexpectedly and people can let us down, so we better use this strategy to protect ourselves from such disappointments in the future.

Self sabotage is a coping mechanism I hate, but have honestly employed a lot in my life. The whole, something is bound to go wrong, things always go wrong, I don’t trust this process to go smoothly, things can’t be good, stay good, things ultimately always go wrong and if they aren’t, no, I can’t trust that, therefore I better use my default coping mechanism and protect myself before everything falls apart. You just learn this coping mechanism and it becomes so ingrained in you, that often you don’t even realise you are unconsciously doing it.

So yeah, this whole being ‘enough’, it’s been a thing in my life for so long I couldn’t even tell you when it became an issue for me. I’d say some of it comes from ex partners parents, who for some reason would think I’m ‘trouble’, the ‘bad guy’ and I don’t understand this. As I know deep down I’m a beautiful, caring, kind, compassionate, loving, empathetic and genuinely nice person. So I have always struggled with this lack of acceptance from ex partners parents. My mind just can’t understand why they would think so badly of me. Like, as if I didn’t have enough issues with low self esteem and confidence and self worth as it was! So that is definitely one root cause I have identified. Also it may have come from my parenting by my mother and being told to stop crying, stop feeling sorry for myself and being asked “what’s wrong with you?”…. That question in and of itself is so bloody unhelpful for an emotional, sensitive and depressed teenager. Because then you do start to ask yourself that question and that really fucks with your confidence and self worth. As clearly if someone important asks you “what’s wrong with you?”, clearly there’s something wrong with you.

I’ve self sabotaged 2 key relationships because of this fear of not being ‘enough’. The fear of the unknown. The fear of rejection. Like, better drop them before they hurt you or better give them every reason to leave or else they will see the real you and reject you and leave.

And for some reason, I thought the real me was someone evil, terrible, unlovable and unacceptable. I thought the real me was not ok.

No, how very wrong I was. The real me was just very broken, very wounded, deeply longing for so many things I lacked. Desperate to be loved and accepted for all that I am. The real me was never a bad person, just a very scared child 😥

I definitely fucked up my last relationship because of thinking I wasn’t ‘enough’. And that was definitely not my partners fault. If I had the foresight that I do now, I would have realised I was definitely ‘enough’. He gave me no reason to think I wasn’t enough. It was always my issue, thinking I wasn’t enough. He was who I never knew I was looking for and who I always needed. He met me at the worst time of my life and he stayed. Which is huge. As I gave him so many reasons to leave, not intentionally though. Stupid self sabotage! I gave him many reasons to reject me, but he didn’t. I just couldn’t accept I was enough, that I was who he wanted long term. I do think words said by parents on both sides honestly had something to do with this self doubt and thinking I wasn’t good enough and that things would come to an end. Hearing about the conversations his parents would have with him and them bringing up my age, that I have kids already, that I was married, my BPD, the fact I have my tubes tied so no grandkids for them. And the odd persons opinions that it wouldn’t last, that he might get bored with me. Family definitely had a part in creating a lot of insecurity and building fear and planting seeds in my mind that naturally would have me second guessing myself and questioning my confidence in my relationship. I can take a lot on as my fault and my doing, but those above mentioned definitely did not help and they certainly fed into my fear of not being enough. I always had such a huge fear that he would change his mind and I would be left heartbroken. It’s so very true that what we fear most, we create.

I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for him, my ex. He has a heart that is just so big and beautiful and full of love and he’s been dragged through hell and back with his relationships, even, I’m willing to admit with me as well as previous partners. I am thankful I still have him in my life. I do love him a lot and respect him a lot. He’s a great guy and I hate how people he cares about have put him through hell and taken advantage of his kind nature.

So, you feel like you aren’t ‘enough’? Take it from me, you are, always were and always will be. Yeah, you are human, therefore you are flawed, remember this, acknowledge this and work with this. Just keep improving and growing. We should always be growing, even into old age. Change, is the scariest thing to do, but so worth it. Mate, if I can change and I thought I was fucked, then anyone can! I thought I was destined to be on antidepressants for the rest of my life and look, here I am, 6 months later and I’m still standing, still trying, still surviving. I’m not going to lie, it has been hard, it’s been scary, it’s been challenging and it has been the fight of my life and for my life, but I’ve done it and I keep doing it.

I’m definitely proud of my progress so far. I have improved my life in many ways. Mental health is better, yes, I still do suffer from depression and anxiety at times, it is what it is. My general health is better.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully everything I wrote makes sense.

It’s been a while

I’ve been through a lot since my relationship ended last year in November. Ups and downs. Some bad decisions, but I feel more good decisions have been made then bad.

Out of loneliness and desperation for social contact, I did hang around with some less then desirable people and made bad choices. Took drugs that I regret ever trying. I don’t feel I ever got to a point of being reliant or addicted, as I feel it was more being around the drug and people who had a dependency on it and simply partaking out of boredom and just being around those people. I never really cared for it and can happily live without it and those people and the stresses that their lives involved. I was mostly using it as a distraction from my unhappy feelings. It was most definitely an unhealthy coping mechanism. Trying to runaway from my reality, instead of facing it head on and making the changes I needed to, to make my life better. Certainly I do not think people who take such a drug are bad people, but they tend to be, from my observation, very stuck, hurting people, who generally have traumas and issues that they haven’t resolved and rather then actually doing the right thing for themselves and working through their traumas and issues, they choose to numb it and block it out with drugs. This, as we all know, never fixes anything. This is always a temporary solution and never serves to improve their lives and then due to their addiction, they do end up make bad choices and becoming pretty shitty in how they behave and treat others, out of desperation to feed their addiction. It’s really bloody sad. I am quite empathetic and I see their pain, but I don’t accept their excuses. I can empathize with how their trauma is a constant struggle to live with, but still, you are the author of your life and only you can rewrite your story and that there is power. A power that I wish these people would embrace.

All you can do is say, “hey, I see you. I see your pain. I see how much it hurts, I see how hard you struggle. But you can do better and be better and you have these skillsets and you can make something of your life and you know that”. No-one will ever change until they are ready. All you can do is let them know someone believes in them, that they are important and people do care and leave it at that. You can’t hang around to see if they make these changes, as due to their addiction, they will sadly use you, manipulate you and play on your sympathies to feed their addiction.

That’s as much time as I’m willing to devote to that subject. I’m done with that drug and those people and my life is better for it.

I was so sick of living a life of regret and shame. I hated hurting people I love when I was weak. I hated that I lied and only thought about myself at times, in the context of making selfish choices that did not serve my growth and I couldn’t be the best me.

I am SO lucky for the few great people I have in my life. I keep my circle small for a reason. Only people who want the best for me I allow to stay in my life. I am thankful to my Mum for being there and loving me, even when I couldn’t love myself. For supporting me and advocating for me when I was depressed and suicidal last year and the mental health sector didn’t offer me any help. I am so thankful she kept pushing until someone would hear me and offer me the support I desperately needed. I am thankful for my friend Lindsay, even though he didn’t always know what to say, what he had to say was supportive and caring and just even if all he could do was listen, that was huge to me. I am thankful for my oldest daughter Sophie telling me some hard truths and pulling me up on being kind of shit Mum during the Xmas holidays and not being there for her. She was blunt, but I love that she was and I needed her to tell me straight how that effected her. It really helped me. Yeah, no doubt it was very hard to hear. As it hurt and I hurt her and failed her when I couldn’t be present. As I was not coping after my break up and I just couldn’t be present and be the parent she needed. I am thankful to my ex, who is still my friend and I think he will always be my best friend, despite everything. Because we have been each others best friend for 5 years and we are used to sharing our lives, triumphs and struggles with each other. And I Love him no doubt. It hurts me so much when I know he is hurting because of me. He’s been my biggest supporter in life and been with me through so much. The best and the worst and he still stayed loyal and by my side, loving me through it all. But I wasn’t always the team player and partner he needed and I was detrimental to his mental health at times, due to my unresolved issues. So I respect he needed to leave and put that time and distance between us, to look after himself and ultimately it forced me to look after myself and find myself and start to heal my life. I do want a life with him and I hope in the future we can have that. We do both care for each other deeply and love each other. But because of my last slip up with drugs on my birthday, his guard is up and his trust towards me is shaken. So that will take time to rebuild. But I appreciate that he texts with me every day and we chat on the phone several times a week. He is irreplaceable. No one has captured my heart like him. No-one gets me like he does and he’s just a beautiful soul, so kindhearted and a real man. He softened my hardened heart.

I’ve had to sever contact with his parents, as they don’t agree I should be in his life in any capacity. I do understand based on the past me, that they have their reservations. But people can and do change. But I can’t allow myself to care so much what they think and about their approval, as the last interaction I had with his father, left me feeling enraged, hopeless and suicidal and rather then allow his father to throw anything more at me that had such a negative response by me, I did what was best for me and cut off contact. If you have followed my blog and read many of my previous posts about myself, you may recall I have quite an issue with seeking approval of parents, especially fathers. I think fathers, because I lost my own father at an early age, so I tend to crave that acceptance more.

I am a lot stronger then I realized. That I am still standing and persevering despite such a long struggle with depression is awesome. The end of last year was so hard for me. Living by myself has been very hard and yeah, there was a period of bad decisions because of loneliness. My brief time on Tinder, I thought it was about sex, but when I really looked at myself, it was loneliness and not respecting myself and not loving myself and not caring about myself. It was so much deeper, that behaviour, then what it seemed. Truth, once I got over my self destructive tendencies, I realized I don’t even care about sex, unless it’s in a relationship and with someone I love. It doesn’t feel good, it lacks substance and depth. I feel some females can tend to keep sex very separate from feelings at times. This is evidenced in how females can tend to move on sexually or otherwise quite fast. We can be a bit ruthless to be honest. Men, despite many misconceptions have more depth and emotional connections related to sex. Interesting, because there’s always been this perception that women are the more emotional sex. Hmm, don’t fully agree. It’s just more socially acceptable for us to have and show emotions. I feel the opposite is true. I feel men are the more emotional sex. But it is less accepted as appropriate for them to show emotion by society. Yes, there is more acceptance of this, but still we have a long way to go. I feel women really are given way too much leeway and they get away with so much that they shouldn’t. We are taught from a young age in fact, to be less then honest and how to manipulate and in fact how to use our sexuality to get our way in certain situations. Whereas men are taught to be honest, loyal, truthful and to make their family proud. They are taught to be hardworking, nurturing, protective and they have a huge weight of expectations on them by society and family. I accept I’m a female and it is what it is, but I am not proud of what little is honestly expected of us. I mean come on, really?! Why do we get bought up with such questionable values?! Why didn’t we get bought up to be honest, loyal, truthful, hardworking and protective?…. Like in this world of equality, this is fucked! Granted, there are likely some women who may have been bought up in a less morally questionable way, but I’m not one of them and every female I have known so far, accept maybe one, was bought up much the same as me. And just let me say, I think men do deserve to get paid more with regards to certain careers. This isn’t about sexism though, it’s about certain tasks they can better perform then women and I’m not saying there aren’t possibly women who could do some of those tasks, it’s possible, but this is why the higher pay is justified.

On to another subject. Stoicism and Philosophy. Both bloody awesome subjects! I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks on Stoics, Stoicism and Philosophers and Philosophy and it’s very insightful and relevant and can definitely be used to better our lives. Markus Aurelius, Socrates, Seneca, Epictetus. I have come to discover a lot of modern Psychology has a lot of basis and inspiration from Philosophy and Stoicism, especially CBT.

So, what else have I been upto lately. Well, self improvement, studying for my Class 2 license and Forklift License. Trying to get a full time job. Eating well and looking after my mind, body and soul. Living a life I can be proud of. I can’t remember if I have mentioned my annoying diet restrictions. Annoyingly I am Gluten Intolerant, Lactose Intolerant and Egg Intolerant. Makes eating healthy on a small budget so damn difficult! You go to the supermarket and have to really look and not be impulsive. That not being impulsive with foods has been a hard one to work with. As I love sweet, bad things, but my body WILL punish me if I eat bad foods 😦

I’m feeling a lot happier these days and have more energy and motivation. Dropping the antidepressants seems to have helped with that. Though I do still have dreams that are intense and sometimes emotionally charged or distressing. But I’ve come to accept that might just be because dreams are the brains way of resolving issues, whether current or past. Having to just use your own strength to deal with your many varying and intense emotions without the aid of antidepressants just shows how strong you really are. But damn! It is not the easiest task to sit with those intense emotions, especially the desire to self harm or any suicidal thoughts, when you don’t have the off switch or balancing influence of antidepressants. But look, I am still here and I’ve not self harmed and I’m still living my life and finding hope.

It used to feel like I had this lifelong sentence with BPD. I feel the essence of my issues with regards to BPD was the shifting self identity and now that I have a more solid sense of self and feel assured of who ‘I’ am, I am feeling more at ease, more contented and less of a lost cause. I feel so much more hope for myself and the future. It sux when you lose yourself and just can’t work out where you fit in this world. Finding that renewed sense of self is a beautiful, powerful thing.

Right, I’m happy with that level of sharing and also, just past midnight and I need to sleep. Thanks to anyone following my blog and reading it. I appreciate it and appreciate you. I hope what I share helps others feel less alone in this messed up world. Knowing you aren’t the only one going through what you’re going through is reassuring and makes life, with it’s ups and downs and various struggles, that little bit easier just knowing you aren’t alone in your struggles. Hence why I blog and I encourage others to blog. This started as an outlet just for me and then became about just being real in hopes that others might draw inspiration from knowing they aren’t alone and being at the very least, comforted by that. I do my best not to filter myself, as I want to be as real as possible about my ups and downs.

This Year has been A LOT!

Where to even start. As it has been so damn long since I lasted blogged

Still going through a lot myself at the moment. As my partner broke up with me about 6 weeks ago and that has not been easy

There’s been a few stresses this year

We had an alcoholic flatmate who definiely outstayed his welcome and did cause a fair bit of tension. During lockdown he had a clash with my now ex partner, which resulted in my ex going to stay elsewhere for a significant amount of lockdown. And I was left stuck here with the flatmate which I hated

We had broken up briefly earlier this year, but we managed to make things work again

I can already feel my emotions starting to rise up just mentioning the break up

There were periods where I used unhealthy coping mechanisms. But I decided a few months back to sort myself out and start seeing a therapist. As I was over being a shit person and making stupid decisions and being left hating myself for it

I definitely struggled with the stress of not having my partner around for quite a few periods this year. With all the stresses of this year I really missed him when he was away from home

I found the lead up to Xmas really hard. As he left me on the 11th November. And I have been through a lot emotionally since he left. He broke my heart for sure and it still hurts. I feel like the coping changes, but not the feelings. I don’t miss him any less now then I did when he broke up with me

I felt pretty suicidal the days after he left. I pretty much just ignored the world for most of the first week and wouldn’t answer calls and mostly kept my phone turned off

I feel like noone could ever replace the way he made me feel or even come close to what we had

Yeah, I feel pretty lost without him

He had a fair amount of stresses himself this year. With has dad having cancer, him being diagnosed with Adult ADD, Alcoholic flatmate and needy, co-dependant me

The thing that shocked me, is how suddenly it ended and the fact I felt we had been going well in our relationship. I was going to therapy to get my head sorted, I was making sure I put time aside and made time for us, I cooked dinner even when I didn’t feel like it, I made him a cup of tea every morning without being asked. I was showing up for once and part of our team. I was even doing better with my business and record keeping

But it seemed I pushed too much on the day things ended and I wasn’t respectful and I was insensitive and did not give him the space he needed

Yeah, I get needy and irrational sometimes!

I also decided to stop taking my antidepressants a few weeks back, so that’s been pretty intense. Makes me realise just how many emotions I have and how sensitive I am to even little things

I did plan to get off them at some point. But I didn’t realise how much they were numbing me until I dropped the dose down to half. I appreciated the clarity it gave me having less in my system. I definitely noticed I had more energy too.

But damn! So many emotions and so intense!

I came to a lot of realisations about a lot of things just messaging with my ex and also exploring my thoughts in my diary

I definitely have unresolved issues from years back. Things like the way ex’s before him treated me, the major depressive episode after having Dylan, CYFS input in my life and how that effected my confidence as a parent and how some of the ways I was treated in previous relationships, I seemed to bring some of that behaviour into my relationship with my most recent ex

It’s amazing/shocking how you can be doing this and not even realise it

My moods and such were described as (when I was still on my full dose of antidepressants) meh, flat, dull, melancholy and I feel I was very much on auto-pilot for many years and simply existing, not really living

I also feel as if I had a second personality that has been living my life for many years, instead of me. Like it served the purpose of protecting me, but then still stayed when I no longer needed protection and just continued to do damage long past it’s expiry

My ex accused me of being quite inconsiderate of other peoples feelings. And maybe that is accurate. The thing is, it very much seems to be in the way in which my brain is wired and how BPD works. So clearly my emotions become very all consuming when they are present and I guess I can be seen as not observing or considering other peoples feelings

I know I was guilty of not knowing how to have a healthy, normal relationship. Fact is, I met him when I was not looking for a partner and then we just clicked and became something more then just sex and I’ve been trying to work it all out as I go along. As to be fair, I don’t know when I ever had a normal, healthy relationship

This whole living by myself that was suddenly thrust upon me has been hard. I miss the cuddles so much

Granted, maybe there is someone out there that could treat me just as well. But Wez is special to me because of what I have been through with him by my side. And how many people can really peak and hold my interest? None before him I know that much

Honestly, if I saw him with someone else, it would so break me and it’s not about anything I feel I’m lacking, I just thought we were forever and I would be with him for the rest of my life, so this current reality is hard to bear

In any way that he lacks, I can just see past that, because I love him

My feelings don’t change, just coping changes. But I so easily get triggered and tearful and just end up missing him like crazy

This has all been very difficult alone. The emotional ups and downs, the varying moods, the intense loneliness and not having someone there to talk to is hard

I feel like my friends and family very much dropped the support for me very fast. And when people do not give you permission to grieve at your own pace, that just sux. This is my journey, don’t try and steer my ship in the direction you think best. That is not support. Support is standing along side me and being ok with wherever I am at in my journey

I listened to a great audiobook when I was in respite that helped me feel at peace with my journey and where I am at, it’s called Unfuck Your Brain. It goes over things from a psychological perspective, as well as a scientific perspective. It was really validating

I’m sure there was more I wanted to write about, but I’m having a mind blank at the moment, so I will just leave it at this

Thanks for reading

Venlafaxine/Effexor XR…. Withdrawal is HELL!!!

So on a few occasions in the past I’ve made the mistake of missing a few doses of my antidepressant, which is Venlafaxine. I don’t miss doses intentionally, as I have had the GP say many times, try not to let this happen again.

It seems any time I have missed a few doses, the side effects get worse each time. The nightmares I must say are most definitely the worse part. They are so disturbing and distressing. Then I end up not wanting to go to sleep because I get anxious at the prospect of having more nightmares.

The side effects I have found the worst are the constant nausea, vommitting, headaches, upset stomach and of course those nightmares. I end up not being able to keep my food down a fair amount of the time and end up in the toilet soon after eating. The nightmares tend to get worse and worse the longer I am with out my antidepressants. I often will wake my partner up with my muffled screaming. Sometimes I have to force myself to stay awake for a bit just to ensure I don’t fall asleep and go back into the nightmare. There was one night I kept falling back to sleep into the same nightmare for a period of about 3 hours.

A couple of nights ago I had the worst nightmare ever. It was so bad I was trapped in it, it was the scarest experience I have ever had in my life. I have never been so scared in my life. I kept tryng to force myself to wake up and eventually succeeded. But it was so traumatic the nightmare, I was fighting my body trying to stay awake and I was convinced that the thinking I was awake was a trap and that I was still in impending danger. I have never experienced sleep parylsis, but what I felt seems possibly like that. I was afraid to move, afraid to talk and even afraid to try wake my partner up. It all felt like a trap. Like I was being tricked into thinking I was awake but they were still out to get me, the people in my nightmare. I legit thought I was going to die in this nightmare and I was convinced it was real and I was going to die. When I was awake, it seemed like I was still partly in REM sleep, as my eyes were doing this weird speedy blinking thing, like that which they do when you are in REM sleep. I had to force myself not to close my eyes. As it felt like my mind was trying to get me back into the nightmare. I know I already said this, but I have never been so scared!

I did get my medication a couple of days ago, but I am still suffering some of the side effects. I still feel ill, still being vommitting, have a slight headache, can’t eat much that will stay down. I’ve also been so tired all of the time.

The problem with withdrawal and how fast all those symptoms return that lead you to needing antidepressants return, is that you no longer know if you are still unwell or not. Also, the fear of relapse and the horrible withdrawal makes you shit scared of even trying to get off them.

Venlafaxine definitely does the job of helping me cope and does take the edge off everything. I wouldn’t say it is a cure all. I do appreciate that you are still able to feel your emotions and still feel like ‘YOU’. But it doesn’t by any stretch of imagination stop me getting depressed, getting suicidal, feeling anxious or getting overwhelmed. It does take the edge off all of that.

I knew nightmares was a common theme on Venlafaxine and came to discover they are common if you miss doses. I wasn’t aware though, how common knowledge all the other shitty symptoms are. Especially when it comes to talking to pharmasists and GP’s.

I was recently chatting to a friend of mine who had a partner who used to be on Venlafaxine and he was telling me what hell she went through trying to come off this. And she did it by the book and the way your GP will tell you to come off it and cut it down slowly. She experienced horrific nightmares, intense emotions, suidical desires.

It’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place with Venlafaxine. Like do I ever dare risk trying to come off it? Will I cope? Can I cope? As I NEVER want to repeat last weeks experience with that nightmare I mentioned earlier.

I actually can not handle going through that again. And the toll it takes on you is horrible. Sleep is not restful at all at those times. It seems like no matter how much you sleep, you never get caught up. I have spent the last 2 weeks feeling ill as, constantly tired and feeling so crap.

It’s such an emotional rollercoaster! Between being tearful, ultra sensitive and just irritable and agro.

While I was waiting to see the GP on Monday I was getting so over waiting. The GP was running 1/2 an hour late and I was getting pissy that I was not told they were that behind. I was going between wanting to cry for no reason, feeling panicked and distressed just because someones young son was crying. I would want to just walk out at times as I found it hard to just sit there with all my feelings. I was getting so fucked off having to wait. I was so relieved when I finally got to see the GP. As I was getting very aggitated by her running late.

I have done a small amount of research of venlafaxine withdrawal and I never knew how common it is to feel all this withdrawal hell. In fact I saw an image on Pinterest that way titled “Venlafaxine Withdrawal Hell”. That’s a very accurate description for sure.

I do sometimes feel pressure from some people in my life who are anti medication to get off meds. But also I push the fact maybe they just need to accept that I might always need to be on antidepressants and that should be ok.

The GP said to me regarding my concern over whether I might be ok mentally without medication and that the withdrawals, at least wait until I am feeling more stable before exploring that, which makes sense.

I have not blogged for ages it seems. I just don’t allow myself the time to sit down and blog. I always have that anxiety there is something else I should be doing. Or I just don’t have the motivation to even try.

Anyway, still feeling pretty nauseous, so might go eat some food.

Thanks for reading 🙂

2019

It’s been quite some time since I blogged last. I honestly can’t remember how long.

Like usual, I’ve been wanting to blog a lot more and had the desire to, but not the motivation. I’m not very good at just taking time out to do these things. I don’t know why, but I always feel like I need to be doing something and have a lot of trouble just taking time for myself.

I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before, but I discovered last year some time that I have sleep apnea. Which definitely does not help my energy levels or motivation. I do need to probably have a talk to a GP about it and see what helps with it.

I have decided in the last few days to switch to the Paleo way of eating. I have been wanting to try this way of eating before, but I didn’t really know enough about it. I watched the second season of The Paleo Way (I think that’s what it’s called) on Netflix recently. So now I have a lot more of an education on the subject. I also made a point of searching up Paleo meals online and bookmarking some good, affordable meal options. I also got a couple of books out from the library. One is called ‘The Paleo Diet – Food Your Body was Designed to Eat’ and ‘Modern Caveman – The Complete Paleo Lifestyle Handbook’. The first book is more on what you can and can’t eat and the second book is a more comprehensive book, that covers the subject a lot more thoroughly. This kind of eating definitely makes a lot of sense. I do feel it is important to really understand why it is beneficial. As I would imagine some people may be curious about it, so knowledge on the subject is definitely a plus.

My mental health has been through ups and downs since I blogged last. I have had really low points where I have honestly wanted to take my own life and have wanted to self harm. Thankfully I have not done either. I just get really overwhelmed with stress to a point I just can not function and I can not see a way out. Yeah, things do get better. It’s just hard remembering that when you are in distress. I think I have been feeling a lot more depressed and overwhelmed a lot of the time since I blogged last. At the moment I’m feeling ok though. Yesterday I found myself actually feeling hopeful, positive and motivated. Which for me is extremely rare.

I have caused some of the stress myself, by making bad decisions with money and get us into stress on and off with money and overdue debts. I am hoping I am over that self sabotaging behaviour.

FML!

FML (Fuck My Life) is the perfect way to describe how I feel lately.

Just stressed in a few areas. And I feel so crap all the time.

I have felt like self harming a few times, but thankfully haven’t and have had a few fleeting desires suicide wise.

My energy levels are like non-existent. I have no energy! I feel tired all the time! And I have no idea why.

I do need to go to the GP, but I owe over $50 and I don’t think they let you make an appointment when your debt is over $45 and it’s been in debt for over a month. Also I’m pessimistic of whether I will be taken seriously, based on previous experience. I feel I get fobbed off, when really I need to be taken seriously and I need the GP to look into what the issue is causing this low energy and constant low mood.

I’m SO moody, grumpy, sensitive, irritable, emotional and just a bloody mess! I can hardly bear myself and I have no idea how anyone else can deal with me. It feels like how I react isn’t even a conscious thing. I’ll react and then think to myself, why am I reacting like that?

I feel like it’s hormonal, physical and mental. I definitely feel effected in all those areas.

I was talking to my partner about how I wish I could just get drunk, just so as to feel something other then utter crap. And I cried just talking about it. My emotions are so on edge. I feel for him, having to deal with me at the moment. It can’t be easy.

I have definitely found the school holidays that are about to finish, very difficult. I just feel like I have not had the energy for the kids and found my tolerance quite low at times. It was quite hard when my oldest daughter was here, seeing her level of anxiety. It can’t be easy for her. And from what I’ve read from her carers, things are really difficult for her with them and at high school. I would like to try get her back in my care. But I feel like I’d need to secure a bigger place and be closer to family location wise.

I feel like some of my physical health problems are effecting my energy and aggravating other physical health problems. Like I feel like coming up to ‘that time of month’ I get a little constipated and going number 2’s aggravates my cervix, causing my cervical prolapse to become worth, which then causes bleeding before ‘that time of month’ and my cervix prolapsing aggravates the nerves in my back, causing back pain. And I already get the back pain during ‘that time of month’ any way. Then I am drained with ‘that time of month’ and PMSing during that time too. It feels like PMS all day, every day! I will be SO angry if I go to the GP eventually and I get no answers. This is NOT living! This is existing and that sux!

Bills. Oh they suck! You get on top of some and then before you can relax, another and it’s somehow overdue already! If it wasn’t for my repairs and buying mobiles, tablets/iPads or iPods for cheap and selling for a profit, things would be so much worse.

There is a really well priced office for rent in Stoke, but the issue is, where do we come up with the extra $50 a week to pay for that and also, power for it. I really like it and the location, but how to make it happen? As I feel like I don’t have enough work to afford it. But it’s like a double edged sword, like I shouldn’t forever put opportunities on hold, but also, I don’t have enough work yet. I wish I could have a home office. I like the idea of a small business loan, but is it affordable? And where would be affordable and can I earn enough to pay it back and is it a realistic option? I don’t feel like it would need to be a very big loan, just enough to get stock and advertising material, but only necessary, as in like flag/banner or sign. Something that you only have to pay for once.

So far advertising wise, I have 2 car magnets, a bumper sticker on my car and got 250 business cards printed for my business. I must say, loving Vistaprint prices!

Argh! I get so stressed when I’ve got things for sale and I get people enquiring, but no-one buying. Or asking to buy, then mucking me around and not buying.

I don’t look forward to going to bed at night or sleep. As it’s like, yay, lets have a sleep, only to wake up and still feel tired ALL THE TIME!

Ok, I think I’ve done enough venting now. I think I might drink a coffee…at nearly 10:30pm, just because.

Thanks for reading and following to those of you who follow my blog. I’m sorry there’s not a lot of positive much of the time, but yeah, I’m being real. I wish things were better 😦