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Caring4Corny

Caring4Corny

I have been sitting on @Hope4me 's lap in her cubby house on her thread, drinking her Milo, playing with her Transformers and her My Little Ponies, having lots to say about myself, but like every self respecting 2nd born barges in and takes over without realising....I'm sorry @Hope4me I was so comfortable in your company I made myself at home, just like an annoying lil sis does. I copied ya with the using the '4' in the title eh, eh!

I began by posting this in the lived experience side of the tracks and then deleted it, realising I am sick of my story, and I am pivoting away from narrative and trying to move into action with caring for myself. It is something that feels very foreign, when your entire identity has been built on caring for others. Its no wonder in my offline life I have always attracted users and takers.

It's like I have no worth unless I am helping or being considerate to someone else's needs.

I have been on the carers forum in regards to both of my parents. Mother with schizophrenia from late teens and a father (now deceased by suicide) with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Depression, Anxiety & SH and both sides of the extended family riddled with Bipolar I&II, Psychotic illnesses, Anxiety, Agoraphobia, a new case of suspected BPD and Major Depression.

But I am not here to talk about or learn about caring for them, I am here to learn how to care for myself, and hopefully lift some of the depression along the way.

I am an incredibly independent and strong women, who was given no choice but to be self contained or perish.

Talking to my sib on the weekend, I forget that some people do not have this capacity and how amazing we are just to survive. We had each other and I think if we hadn't, none of us would be here. We're a bit bruised, and in my case limping and lame right now, but there are full grown adults who disintegrate the second life forces them to stand on their own 2 feet and get through some tough, and soul changing times, so I am beginning to realise that I am not as weak as a lot of other people can be, and I do have strengths even if I can't put them on a resume.

Some days my fathers voice still rings in my head, but I have made big leaps and I have to remind myself to look around at other people. My doc said how on earth I managed to escape a life on drugs, alcohol or ending up in prison is beyond him, but just like Punky Brewster whose parents abandoned her I am still here...

I do feel in a foreign land though because depression is new to me, anxiety is my base camp.

I can't turn my back on my 5 year old self, but how have others began the journey of caring for themselves, and getting over it feeling so alien?

I don't suffer from reactive attachment syndrome and expect a significant other to clean up my parents mess, I am willing, and have been doing the work since I took myself to a clinical psychologist when I was 19.

There is behavioural evidence that I do have self respect and the drive to protect my dignity, I know I have the potential and the follow through in me.....

I just can't shake this depression though. It is like lead.

Thanks for reading

Corny

284 replies

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In response to: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Inherited war trauma is part of our scenario with ex, I believe @Corny ..... not Vietnam, but horrific war experiences across 2-3 generations. Ex didn't suffer torture and physical abuse, but it can come through in other ways, and I reckon it can reside in the genetics until it's worked out of the 'system' (the family) it's taken a hold of .....

Hugs n hugs n hugs n hugs Hon ..... 💜☕️🐠

In response to: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

@Corny 💜🌺🌻

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Yes @Faith-and-Hope I got that impression from your posts, I can't remember what it was that gave me that impression, but I sensed that there was some war trauma passed down. How could it not be. I hope that you are enjoying Uni holidays. I really hoped to re-enrol next year but my stress disorder probably will get in the way. I may be forced to move soon, sooner than I wanted, and I can only cope with one stressful thing at a time, my nervous system reacts as if I am juggling 5 things at once; I've broken my body.

Hugs @outlander

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

❤️ @Corny

I understand .....my youngest two babies y dragons are still struggling with psychosomatic responses.

In response to: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Hi @Corny

It’s so lovely to hear from you

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding in relation to the amount of time that it has taken for me to be able to reach back to you

Oh Corny We all need someone who we can turn to when we’re feeling distressed and as such, it’s completely understandable that you sought comfort from @Faith-and-Hope when your mum died

As I read this part of your story, I could hear so many powerful emotions and given everything that has happened to you throughout our life, it’s no wonder that you feel so enraged!

In my experience, living with so many powerful emotions can be excruciating and there have been times in my life when the anger and rage that I felt was so intense that I felt as though I was on fire!

During these times, every part of me was screaming and I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t know where to go or what to do to find the relief that I so desperately needed. Out of all of the emotions, anger is the one that I find the most challenging to take care of safely.

I can really hear how you ’hate’ living with schizophrenia and my heart goes out to you Although I don’t live with this particular mental health condition, I can really appreciate some of the ways that mental health conditions can impact our lives and I’ve lost count of the number of times when I’ve also wished that I didn’t live with mental health conditions.

I felt incredibly moved when you shared ‘I don't want all of this suffering I have been through to be for nothing.’ In my experience, it can be inconceivable to think that all of the pain, anguish and torment that we’ve experienced throughout our lives has been in vain. As such, I can really appreciate how important it is for you to create a sense of meaning from all of the trauma and adversity that you’ve experienced and how your experiences have guided your decision in relation to organ donation

I’m so deeply sorry to hear that your Therapist told you that ‘you’re the first patient that has the psychological marks of torture’ and I can’t even begin to imagine the impact that this has had upon you

Revisiting childhood memories can be extremely painful and confronting and in my experience, it can be devastating to see the ways in which trauma has impacted our lives.

I’m so deeply sorry to hear that you’re ‘a victim of war’ and I can’t even begin to imagine the horrors that you’ve experienced and how these continue to impact you today

I’m so pleased that you’re taking everything day by day and I just ever so gently wanted to encourage you to continue to be kind, patient and gentle with yourself

Also, I just wanted to share with you that I’ve decided to take some time away from the forums and so please don’t worry if it takes me even longer to reach back to you

In the meantime, please know that I’ll be thinking of you and sending you some very gentle and caring hugs at such a difficult time

I look forward to talking with you again soon

Take care of yourself,

ShiningStar

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

❤️ @Corny @ShiningStar .....,

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Thanks @ShiningStar I totally understand taking a break from the forums and even the internet in general. Like any new habit there is a void when you stop doing something you regularly do, but with time you take on new habits and start to forget, which is healthy. We are not supposed to be constantly reminded of our past. I forget that social media exists now, my sibs text me pics of animals like from Wombat Wednesday on Instagram but that is the extent of my social media use. I hope that you have supportive care in the offline world and that your treatment works, even if it is painstakingly slow at times, and that you too, have your own Dr Kindness like I am lucky enough to have. It takes so much stamina to live with chronic mental illness, and I understand how depleted you can feel.

I don't have Schizophrenia @ShiningStar , my Mum did, its been in my family for generations, and I was expressing my hatred and frustration at the disease that tortured her for most of her life, as I reflect on her life and death. I did have a psychotic break at 36, so I am prone to psychosis, & Dr K doesn't have the technology to prove this, but he thinks that the roots of my psychosis was Dissociative. The nature of my hallucinations were opposite to Schizophrenia, they were calming involving people that love me, not agitating, and my body went into a state like I was being put to sleep, when the nurse took my vitals in ER my Sis said that my heart rate was 38bpm. Even after being admitted to a ward, moving around, eating etc it only went up to 44bpm. It will remain a mystery what happened to my body, but my guess is, that is the state I entered when experiencing the repeated violence I did as a preschooler. I am on the NDIS and DSP for PTSD. I could still develop Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder, but I don't have that on my resume yet. But when you've been really sick and been in hospital a long time, you start to not care what the diagnosis is, you just want the treatment to work, because you are living on a ward with people where no treatment is working and witnessing their suffering is very distressing.

I understand how you feel about the anger, I can really relate to that especially in 2016, and the only thing that gives some relief is exercise for me. But long term, the best relief has been therapy, and a lot of it. Working through and dealing with the emotions of my experiences takes the heat out of the anger, because you begin to process the sadness. Of course it is a full time job monitoring it and it takes a lot of lifestyle choices to keep it at a manageable level, you really do have to have a holistic approach, because our wheels come off very easily.

I am doing my best to hold space for little Corny, while grieving the death of my Mum, facing my own mortality and the mortality of everyone I love.......but that's just a part of life. We all have to face it even though it is so incredibly painful, our society is quite odd how it hides death and dying. I think we would all make very different choices if we were confronted more regularly with its inevitability, I know I will and my sibs have said they will. Mum wasted so many years with an abusive, depressing, agro man, I don't want to waste the years I have left. Some people are happy just to exist, but the thought of that is so depressing to me. I find people that have no reverence for life really unattractive, the same boring sh*t day-in-day-out, wash-rinse-repeat, wash-rinse-repeat.

We had a cracker of a storm here last night ShiningStar, it got a little scary, but there were some amazing cloud formations. I really hope that you are OK, take some quiet time for yourself

@Faith-and-Hope

Corny

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

🤗 @Corny ...... hug !

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Thank you @Faith-and-Hope I hope that you are going Ok with all the legals etc. We have started working through Mum's estate and using her lawyer again, and seeing his name pop up in my email brings it all back, dealing with my father's abuse and NPD not to even begin on his financial mismanagement and selfishness...the stress was just so awful, take care Corny

In response to: Re: Caring4Corny

Re: Caring4Corny

Feeling for you @Corny. My situation is stressful, but yours was much worse .....

I am trying to park up the stress and hoping to get out of this without PTSD that way ..... only time will tell I guess.

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