coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
Remember to Breathe
My life has been a journey of healing with many, MANY broken chapters before finally stepping into a path that I can be fully in love with; although admittedly, I am still working on discerning what that path is. I developed the sense early on in life that I was not meant to be here—that life mistakenly spit me out in an existence that I didn’t belong in and I had an overwhelming sense of the walls closing in all around me, trying to snuff me out in some cruel cosmic game. I was terrified at the idea of not being here anymore, but I desperately believed the world would be better off without me. My introvertedness came more from a fear of stepping out of line and drawing the arrows of hate and disgust of others who were clearly, in some way, inconvenienced by my existence. I’ve found later in life that I’ve had this ongoing tendency to hold my breath or start breathing extremely shallowly in unknown situations as though I was trying to make the least amount of physical moves necessary to get through without drawing attention to myself. Still, I would dream of a world where I DID belong. I used to pray, first, that I would go away and fade out of the existence I was sure I wasn’t right for so that the overwhelming loathing of the world would no longer grip me in Every. Single. Thing. That I did. I am one, like so many before me and around me currently, who has spent hours upon hours upon hours wrapped up in soul-crushing suicidal ideation and a desperate need to appease the world through alleviating it of my existence. I spent so much time believing that the world would somehow be better off without me in it. Thus the short breaths to attempt to do as little damage to the existence I was forced to appear in—kind of like how some say that if you were to go back in time, even the flapping of a butterfly’s wings would change the course of events to come—I was trying not to make more of a mess than my existence already had forced me to make.
By Sarah Lynn Jones5 years ago in Psyche
How to be Invisible
From the time I was born, I was different. I was put into a world I never belonged in. My name is Luna, and not only do I have Asperger’s Syndrome, but I am an empath. As a child, I faced so many obstacles and the first was not being able to speak correctly. For the first ten years of my life, I was put through speech therapy and special education classes. It was the late 70’s and early to mid-80’s and Asperger’s did not even have a name yet. I was always was the outsider looking in where no one understood me and the one and only friend I ever had was Meredith. I met her when I was 6 years old in kindergarten. The only one in my life who not only accepted my weirdness but embraced it. I never had to pretend to be someone I was not and even when I had my random acts of waving at strangers like a crazy person or hopping around a grocery store yelling “BUNNY, BUNNY!! HOP, HOP, HOP!” Which I may say embarrassed my little sister the most, Meredith always seemed to be in her mode of “alright here she goes again but it will pass.”
By April San Miguel5 years ago in Psyche
Trying to Fit in With a Disability
Throughout my life, there are times when I have felt like I didn't fit in due to having a physical disability. I was born with Spina Bifida and at the time of my birth, it was still very much the norm that disabled people, no matter their ability would go to special needs school. I was no different, I started my education in a special needs school even though my parents wanted me to be integrated into the mainstream education system. Special needs education was great for making me more independent, but I didn't fit in with the level of work we did. I was always much better than everyone else and so always felt different to my peers. When I went to a mainstream school, this wasn't much better in terms of fitting in, but for quite different reasons. I was different, there was no getting away from that. Living with a disability no matter how independent you are, you will often be seen differently than others without a disability and sometimes it was made massively noticeable through the actions of others. Due to my difference from my peers, there were many times where I felt excluded either intentionally or unintentionally from both my peers and the education system as a whole.
By Sarah Park5 years ago in Psyche
Tales from an OCD Mind
I do not like the person that I have become, I don’t even know what I like or don’t like anymore. Who am I, as a person? What do I value? It seems as if everything has been stripped away from me. Nothing makes sense anymore, and the things which aren’t supposed to make any sense in life are those that plague me day and night with a horrendous intensity.
By Lumos Leviosa5 years ago in Psyche
Now, Where Do I Belong?
There's a part of chronic illness that no one ever really talks about. It lingers in the downtime, inbetween pain medicine and days spent managing symptoms. It's not something a doctor will often talk about - they've got bigger problems - or perhaps, may even go overlooked by your well meaning support group, all who utter that they're for you, and whilst you've no doubt that their intentions are pure, not even they can help when it sets in.
By Jade Hadfield5 years ago in Psyche
Clouds: a story on Mental Health and a better outlook on it
As some people like to consider them "off days", and most people do, what most people don't discover is the fact these off days are important moments in mental health that we have normalized to push away. But how do we change that?
By lillie koch5 years ago in Psyche
Facing Change Caused by Mental Illness
Many things can cause change in life. Illness, injury, loss, pain or triumph/success to list but a few. We can add to that list the experience of living with mental illness. A life can change enormously due to the need to find methods of coping with the day-to-day symptoms, managing medication and therapy etc. It’s not always easy to deal with these changes, especially when it feels like you have no control over what’s happening to your body or mind.
By Alicia Brunskill5 years ago in Psyche
All the world's a stage
My daughter climbed in bed with me the other morning. So nice to know my seventeen year old still feels comfortable doing that. I started chatting and became quite animated about something and she said. ‘Are you sure you have selective mutism (SM)?’, jokingly.
By Jania Williams5 years ago in Psyche
Talk Elixir
A few years ago I stumbled upon the term selective mutism (SM)on a social media page. I sat there, dumfounded, mouth agape as I read the words on the screen. ‘Selective mutism is an acute anxiety response’, ‘vocal chords become paralysed’, ‘unable to talk’, ‘often mistaken for shyness’. I could not believe it. I was reading….. ‘me’. With urgent intrigue I read on. ‘The inability to talk in certain situations or environments — typically school’.
By Jania Williams5 years ago in Psyche
