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Safe Haven

Safe Haven

Trying to find and create a place to feel nurtured and safe from storms, where I might belong, even if only for a time, where I can feel at home, able to welcome others and share knowledge, feelings, stories and experiences.

I'd so like to share the many stories of what happened to shape me into the person I am today, some I can share, but the most recent stuff, the really scary stuff is caught up in past work related experiences that have to remain secret. This makes understanding the way I percieve the world around me a bit difficult to explain to those who have not had that background.

The last few years have been a turmoil of anxiety issues piled on top of one another, time and time again. It's hard to trust when the ones who should have protected you are the ones who were the most consistent in their abuse of you.

From childhood, mother decided I was out to harm her in some way and took up against me even before I started school, belittling and shaming me as often and as openly as she could. Eventually the siblings took part in that as well, and do so to this day. Except that I no longer hear about it having severed all connections with them to save myself.

Along the way, a kidnapping and sexual assault occurred for which I was blamed by priest and parent alike. Luckily the doctor the school principal eventually forced my mother to take me to gave me what I now understand to have been the morning after pill, and despite it being too long after the event, it worked. Something I didn't realise the truth about until some years later, having been a sheltered and naive child at the time. Clever doctor tricked ma into leaving the room and talking to me on my own.

Fast forward to marriage, children, births and deaths, and domestic violence, and move after move after move for work prospects. An eventual diagnosis of PTSD after being wrongly treated for epilepsy for a year. Then other diagnoses of depression and anxiety and other health factors throughout the years.

The repeated betrayal of a once loved church system, priests, and loved ones has left me emotionally scarred, some of those wounds will never heal, this I know to be true for many of us who have been treated without respect or honour.

Anniversay reactions are problem times, especially when those times occur around the times when others want to celebrate. Religion and divinity references, platitudes and throw away phrases that dismiss the reality of experience have no place in my world.

I just want a place of respite, of recovery, of kindness and consideration, where all who interact are respected and honoured while being respectful and honourable; even if it's only for a time.

After all, to everything there is a season ...

137 replies

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In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

Thinking of you. 💜🤗

In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

Hey hon. I'm not sure if you can do it on every email account, we have our own server space, I think that is the correct term for it, so can make things do what we want, like setting up extra email addresses and running websites and having control over various actions.

It's really helpful in lots of ways.

In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

Thank you for sharing 🙂 💕

In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

💜💐 @Former-Member ......

Running around a lot at the moment, but will be back to quieter weeks again next week.

Thinking of you ......

In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

I am about to pick up my Sophie blanket and try not to think too hard about what colour the next round should be, instead just going with it. It's been too long since I have worked on it. It's really cold, windy and wet here at the moment but there's a cosy armchair inside and a hot cup of tea.

I am thinking of you @Former-Member, knowing how much you appreciate moments of escape like this, hoping very much that your day has had moments of feel good in it 💛

In response to: Re: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

How lovely to hear from you @CheerBear and to hear your Sophie is moving along again! Thank you for sharing that news, it did make me smile and a wee bit teary at the same time. I know you get it.

I'm picking up, doing a few stitches and putting down at the moment, unable to focus on anything properly, so tonight I cleaned out the under the sink kitchen cupboard and my bathroom cupboard. Surprisingly little to change, just some reordering of supplies really. That was pleasing.

Cleaned the turf walkway and the pebble driveway and the neighbours' spiders this afternoon.

As you can tell the agitated cleaning to salve emotional pain has been a bit productive and rewarding - there will be an inspection in a few weeks I expect so I'll be done ahead of time.

I discovered tonight that I could turn off completely the 'Like' button, so now I cannot even see the 'like' rectangle on any posts at all!

I'm so happy to hear of your escaping into crocheting Sophie again and wish you so much of every good thing as you travel forward.

In response to: Re: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

Thank you @Teej for the beautiful flowers, so lovely, and thank you @Faith-and-Hope and @outlander for your kind wishes and thoughts.

Be well, be kind to yourself.

In response to: Re: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

@Former-Member .... 💐💕

In response to: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

Love the pinks I am seeing in the flowers you're sharing @Former-Member 😊 And the shades in the flowers you shared teej and faith-and-hope. Might come back to them for tulip colour inspiration (Sophie blanket had another round of leaves last night - today is the day for flower making). Thank you for your wishes.

Hearing you with the pick up, put down situation. I have a few projects on the go, as always, and am finding myself with a level of concentration and focus not at all able to work with much of anything.

Cleaning and organising is one of the most productive uses of agigtation and anxiety for me. It's annoying when 4am 'must measure and move furniture around because my desk is untidy' happens, but I find it can be rewarding also. Spiders - shudder. Same with house inspections. It's good to be ahead with them though. It makes it a little less stressful maybe.

Wow with turning off the like button. It's great to hear you're finding ways of making the forum work better for you. I sit nodding and feeling along with your posts so often, but if it works better for you I can 'like' your posts in my head from now on.

Sending you lots of these 💗 with hopes of a weekend ahead that works well enough for you, however you spend it.

In response to: Re: Safe Haven

Re: Safe Haven

I've just stopped by to update. Things are not good, not good at all. I appreciate the kindness of those who have taken the time to tag me, but I cannot respond to all, I am so very sorry.

1. After a month and a half of problems with illness in the first instance and data system failure in the second instance, the Sleep Test has been done. The ludicrousness of the whole affair and how it was explained to me compared to how it was in actuality beggars belief and has created yet another rift in the relationship with my pharmacist. Who would have thought ...

With any alignment of synergy, the data will be ready for my next gp appointment, but I'll bet it isn't and will have to go through all the motions again for no benefit.

2. The turkeys - it seems they are turkeys - next door are now flying onto my roof and causing issues in my itsy bitsy garden. Authorities have taken the situation on board and the whole shebang will probably have to be done away with due to regulations about distance and lots of other stuff. So, a potential positive re noise reduction there, but sorry they will most likely lose their poultry. Still, there be reasons for that stuff.

3. Responsibility to the one person in my life is the only thing currently keeping me functioning even in the slightest. I'm using craft of any type to keep myself focused on something, anything other than the worst.

4. I've removed all of my published books from sale and taken down my website. I am telling myself I will reorganise it in a different way, focusing on kindness and craft and pretty things and leave all the heartache and pain and vexatious, argumentative people and things out of my focii of attention. So far I have ideas but no idea how to action it in a workable manner.

5. I'm in a hole, a massive, deep hole and no one with the power to help is interested in doing so. So very alone. So much to say ... but there's no point ... and I don't have the energy ... and who will understand anyway ...

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