Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Forsaken

Sadness, loneliness and fear are my companions tonight. It's 2am and I feel so battered and bruised that I just can't give myself up to the mercy of wild dreams that haunt my sleep.

So yes today has been one of those days, where even the tiniest most insignificant things can cause a deep strangling heartache.

Two major things have been on my mind this past week: family and God.

Last Friday I had my 3rd CBT session with Dr. Shaw, I had difficulty making sense of all my worries and feelings so she decided that making a chart would give us more clarity and a goal to work towards. She gave me the chart to take home, this is what it looks like:



Is it just me, or does that look like a HUGE MESS!!. Sure the thing gave me clarity but it also gave me an awful realisation of how much deep crap I'm in. Seriously, when she took it down and gave it to me it looked even more terrifying close up!.

You may not be able to see but at the top of the pile is family- more specifically family worries. Family problems and family worries dominate my every waking moment. Dr. Shaw pointed out that in order to even THINK about getting better I needed to start putting myself first. I just know this would not sit well with anyone in my family.To my mother this would be the greatest act of selfishness. We are like the freaking mafia- family is EVERYTHING, you are meant to sacrifice stuff for the family.

Today I had my counselling session with the church counsellors. My going to see church counsellors is kind of ironic- because 1) I don't really believe in God right now and 2) If my mother, who arranged all this, knew what was coming out in these counselling sessions, she'd want me to stop going.

These counsellors have relentlessly and faithfully prayed that I would be able to have faith in God, but as my counsellor said today it's like praying to a brick wall, so we chatted instead. What they said really resonated with me though.

The one counsellor said that I have never known freedom. And I think he's right. This might be tough for a person to understand, but sometimes the most turbulent and heartbreaking battles in history where fought in a person's own mind and heart. For so long my mind has been encaged by the prison of mental illness and my heart has been scared and chained by my past- the abuse, fear and hurt that I endured that I have never experienced life or seen the world for what it is.

Also during this talk the subject yet again turned to my family and the battlefield that is our lives. Instead of branching out and making a separate life for ourselves we all stuck together, making our problems each others problems and just creating, well, one BIG problem. We don't move forward, we occasionally take two steps backwards but 20 years ago, we were still more or less in the same situation we are now- except the kids are older. Is that any way to live?

Instead of thinking that I needed my family to support me and help me through this, I came away from today's session realising I was weakest link of an old rusted chain. Staying with them is doing neither of us good. And the only solution to my problem is to leave my family, wash my hands of their problems and their business, move away and start building a separate life.

But by doing that I will totally and completely alone. Yeah sure I have friends- all my really good ones live overseas though and going to dump myself on someone else would be besides the point. It's been me against the world before- I lived in London for two years but seriously is that going to be my life?. I cannot see myself getting married in the future and I can't have children. So it looks like I'll be a one man show.

I can't discuss family details in this blog, but believe me when I tell you that things are HORRENDOUSLY messed up and I CANNOT rely on them for ANYTHING any longer.

And then there is God. I have walked through life hand in hand with a mystery, not wanting to let go but unable to comprehend him. I grew up in a non- denominational church and I have been a born again christian since I was 12. I have known and seen enough evidence that He exists but the breakdown and the cursed analytical part of my brain vanquished any faith that I had. I wish I could just go one way or the other- be an atheist or a daughter of God. But each of them has one of my wrists and there is a tug of war going on. I will say that I have been a part time unbeliever for three years and my life is the worst it's ever been.

This brings me a little bit of comfort tonight, maybe because I have been reading this since my childhood- I will end off with this. If it resonates with you or makes your faith stronger I really envy you

3 comments:

  1. You have to give yourself a lot of credit - because you are doing the BEST thing you can for yourself - and that's to get better - and yes - other people who don't understand think it's a "selfish" act - but in reality - working on yourself and loving who you are FIRST is the best thing anyone can do for themselves and for the people around them. If you're not healthy - there's no way you be of any help to anyone else.

    I too grew up in a messed up household - and I too had to cut them off in order to start feeling better about myself. They are who they are - and we can't change them - but we can change ourselves...

    Searching for God or whatever it is you're looking for will be an on-going journey - and that's okay. I grew up in a very strict Catholic household and it sort of messed me up and my image of God - but throughout the years I started to think for MYSELF - instead of just following the heard... I opened up to many ideas of what "God" means to many different people... so... good luck on this journey - and I do believe you'll eventually come to peace with it... I really do.

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  2. Hey Stephi - I think you're so brave because you never deny or escape from your reality - it takes a lot of courage, and as Christine says, you should be very pround of yourself for trying your best to deal with your issues. This post really speaks to me because I have cut my family off for quite some time and all my good friends live in either the United States or Canada. I do have a few here in Japan, but they're too busy to set aside time for me.

    I'm not religious so I don't know a lot about God and stuff, but I assume it must be pretty complex. I think anything that lives with you for a long time can really be too tricky to comprehend at times. You may be feeling alone now, but please DO NOT forget that you're not alone. We may be too far away to talk face-to-face, but you always have a lot of friends here who enjoy your writing. How are you feeling? I hope you're feeling better now. Take care!

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  3. Hi Stephi,

    I stumbled upon your blog while reseraching depression and it has really touched my heart. This bit on family and God is expecially close to my heart as I too am struggling with both.. but then again, who isnt?

    I am very alone, I have a few friends, but no one to really speak to about my life and my family. I know that idea of pen pals is a bit rediculous but I am going to suggest it anyway. I would like to suggest we communicate by email? one on one two souls connected in some way by one common fact, we are both completely alone.

    We can motivate each other and support each other through emails. My therapist suggested I find someone anonomous to communicate with who can give me some feedback, and I could do the same for you?

    We seem to suffer from the same problems, If you feel it would be a good idea, please email me on pearce.grace@gmail.com

    I hope to hear from you.
    All the best.

    Grace

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