I’ve got this – Or do I?
Are you easily confused when you begin to do familiar tasks or unable to focus and complete daily tasks that usually don’t require much thought or attention? You may find yourself staring off into space, unable to recall what you needed to do.
You find yourself going over last night’s time out with friends. You wonder, “Gosh! Did I make a fool of myself? Was I too loud, or was I too much? Did I make sense when I joined in with others?”
Yes, you’re having excessive worries and fears about what you did or didn’t do while out with friends. You worry about whether you should have had that last drink or drank too much overall.
At this point, you want to quiet the noise in your head rather than keep going over every moment you can recall while with your friends. Even with the positive texts from friends saying that last night was great, your mind keeps thinking they are not telling the truth.
Denial is a hard pill to swallow.
Life has been clipping along just fine. Next thing you know – you find yourself remembering events in your life that you haven’t thought about for a long time. You’re annoyed and relieved all at the same time hearing and reading about the MeToo movement in the news and social media.
You’re avoiding any gatherings with friends and family. Although they understand, you feel disturbed because you wonder if they could know. You think, “Surely, they don’t know.”
Those thoughts keep racing through your mind – making it difficult to fall asleep quickly and causing you to wake up many times throughout the night, making you feel exhausted.
But you know how to put one foot in front of the other to carry on– Right?
Life is at a standstill.
All the while, you can see yourself acting out and being out of control. You yell at yourself to pull it together. No one wants to hear what you’re thinking and feeling. Even if you told someone, they wouldn’t believe you.
Without drawing attention to yourself, you are successfully living life. You know how to avoid attention, even in your sleep.
Keeping it together and not sharing how you feel seems like the best option.
Here you go again…
One day you’re getting ready for your day – brushing your teeth, washing your face, and prepping for what is before you.
The next thing you know – you’re overthinking about something you can’t remember, and you don’t want to remember, yet you’re in tears and feeling exhausted, confused, and activated.
You’ve tried talking with friends, but they hug you and tell you how strong you are and that you need to put that behind you.
You agree, but then, you find yourself revisiting what you have tried to avoid revisiting.
Stop the unhelpful storytelling to yourself.
What wasn’t obvious is now apparent. It’s time to reach out to someone who may be able to help, someone who can sit with you and not freak out or appease you.
The truth is – you can’t keep turning to friends and family who want to make it all disappear. You already know what’s that like, and it doesn’t work.
You’re tired of feeling numb and phony and are ready to discover what once scared the heck out of you, but now, your fear is guiding you to do something different.
Do what scares you because deep down, you believe that doing this can help you.
Now is the time to reach out for help and support.
Psychotherapy is not a magic wand, but it is a process that helps a person review what was once too frightening.
Psychotherapy is a process that is not linear – it’s messy, weaving the hurts and pains of the past into the present with new updates for moving forward in living life.
So, take a chance on yourself. Trust yourself and reach out to someone who knows how to sit with painful stories from your past. I will listen and offer space you can process and learn to interweave the past with the present.
Processing how you feel provides your mind and body new information to help you heal, recover, and reclaim your life to live with more love and joy.
Stop the denial and start moving forward.
I know what it is to survive and live life after a life-jarring event that shakes up your life beyond what you ever imagined.
I will not presume to know what you are feeling or what you experienced, but I have a frame of reference on what it takes to be brave and move forward to heal and recover.
Take the first step and seek a place where you can process how you feel without judgment. Let me be your fellow traveler as you explore your thoughts and feelings while weaving all parts of your life into a beautiful tapestry.
You don’t need to take this journey alone. Contact me today at (909) 584-5963.