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Feeling lost in life

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  • #426480
    Jade
    Participant

    Hi there,

    I thought I would try and reach out to see if there is anyone out there that can offer some advice or clarity on my current struggles. I have been struggling with depression and anxiety now for about 25 years. I’m now 35. I have just lost my grandma nearly a year ago who was a significant figure in my life and I feel so lost without her. I have no idea where I want to live, what town, or who near. I have cut off 2 very close friends this year and feel as if it is a reaction, somewhat, to how I am feeling. I feel like I should be happy with my life. My gran left me some money so I can buy a house when it comes through, and I have a good job as a teacher. I just feel so incredibly lonely. I feel as if nobody truly knows me, including my mother who I live with at the moment until my nans money comes through. Ii am on ADs and have been for 20 years now. I have had various courses of counselling and CBT and am so unsure now as to what to do. I dont think I would commit suicide but I am so fed up of feeling so unhappy. I read self help books all the time, I go on long walks to clear my head, but I struggle to maintain relationships with anyone and shut down as a coping mechanism. I think this is the root of my problems. My failure to be able to communicate. I have constant feelings of anxiety and currently after an argument with my mother and her husband 7 days ago I am in a constant state of threat. I am having night sweats, and I have constant feelings of adrenaline. I am so unhappy and feel as if I am pushing everyone away so it will only get worse. I am also unsure as to whether this is all me or whether my feelings are truly valid and the people in my life have truly intentionally hurt me. Why am I not happy?

    #426482
    anita
    Participant

    Dear Jade:

    Welcome back to the forums! We communicated some back in 2019.

    I am sorry for the loss of your grandma.

    Can you/ will you tell me about your recent argument with your mother and about your relationship with her overall, as well as a bit about your difficulties- over the years- in regard to relationships with friends and with romantic partners??

    anita

    #426504
    Jade
    Participant

    <p style=”text-align: center;”>Hi Anita. I remember we spoke when I had a bad break up. I tried to channel that negative energy into becoming a teacher and feel really proud about that. I feel though, that maybe I didn’t deal with that relationship/abuse and have not had a romantic partner since. Nor, really the ability form or maintain many close relationships with friends. All I have done since then is work. I feel as if this has helped in a way, because it distracts me, but I am so tired and also so lonely. Since the death of my grandma I have moved in with my mum and her husband. My mum had me at a really young so wasn’t really emotionally available when I was a child so I got that emotional connection from my gran. Now my nan is gone I feel a bit lost. I moved in with my mum 5 months after my nan died whilst I wait for the money to come through from my nans will, but this is going to be another 6 months or more.</p>
    Since living with them I have cooked and cleaned every day for 7 months. Alongside working 10+ hours a day and commuting for 2 hours a day. One of the reasons moved is because my mum needed some help because her husband was having a heart operation. She has had a really difficult year. On the 23rd I had been at a friend’s house for drinks. They had been at a party aswell. We got home around the same time and my mum told me she had bought some cigarettes. (She is an ex smoker  she has severe copd and a genetic lung condition). I lost it. I said that I was really ashamed of her and she should know better and so should her husband. I went to bed. Her husband stormed into my bedroom and started screaming at me and calling me names. I feel as if this is all influenced by alcohol but after the last relationship I had which was really abusive I felt really triggered. I just had to get out but I didn’t really know where to go. I went to my aunties house for the night. In the morning I came back, he apologised and my mum tried to talk tome but I was really still upset. So christmas happened and I pretended everything was OK for a few days. I have been avoiding them both since then  trying to keep out of the way and trying to make sure I am tidy to avoid any arguments. Since then I have had extreme anxiety

    I feel so threatened, emotionally and feel really unsafe. I have spoken to a couple of people who have told me that I need to let it go and I need to get over it, but I really can’t. I tried to talk to my mum today and I explained how I felt and how I felt it was a trigger. I also apologised and said I know I cannot tell her what to do, I know I shouldn’t have gotten upset but I was worried and regardless, it doesn’t warrant a response like that. I have found out today that she has told all my family members about her side of the argument now and about how I had baited them for days. Which I can honestly say I did not. I also heard her speaking about me in the kitchen the other day and when I confronted her and said it upset me she denied it. I feel like I’m being made to feel crazy for having an adverse reaction. I told her I feel betrayed because of everything I have done for them for the past 7 months at the sacrifice to myself and my own wellbeing

    .  She basically laughed and said that this was all my fault and I caused the argument. I am fully aware that maybe I have overreacted, but I do not have a safe space anymore. I dont have a home to run to or a grandma to run to if I feel sad. I feel gaslighted and like my feelings have not been considered. I told her I feel unwelcome and she said I’m making myself feel unwelcome by staying in my room and speaking to her with ‘frosty politeness’ but I don’t know how else to be.

    I know this is probably me. I know that I have shut down and all I want to do is run away from this and cut them off. I dont cope well with being upset by people. I have tried to contact talkworks for some therapy for dealing with relationships. They advised I have private attachment therapy. Maybe that’s a good idea. I really fear that I will push everyone away and not have anyone in the future. But I am also aware that sometimes not everything is because of my mental health and I feel like I am gaslighted over this. I just cant distinguish what is real anymore. I tried to speak to my sister earlier but my mum had already apparently called her, and given her her account of things. Which made me feel really paranoid. I feel as if she is trying to justify the way her husband spoke to me by making up lies. I’m really worried about my future. Im really worried about my mental health and I’m really worried that things will never get better for me. I try so hard. I listen to self help books, I have therapy, I take ADs. I try to exercise. Things just seem to get harder the older I get and the more life experiences I have. I feel as if I have nobody that I can trust and turn to anymore and feel like everyone is against me. Im really fed up of being so miserable

    #426512
    anita
    Participant

    Dear Jade:

    The key sentence in your 2nd post is this: “I feel so threatened, emotionally and feel really unsafe“- indeed you are emotionally unsafe in your mother’s home.

    I feel gaslighted and like my feelings have not been considered”- I agree with both:  you really are being gaslit by your mother, and your feelings are not even acknowledged, as if your feelings are not of any value to your own mother, sadly.

    My mum had me at a really young so wasn’t really emotionally available when I was a child“- she is no longer young, and she is still emotionally unavailable to you.

    All I want to do is run away from this and cut them off‘- it’s the right and natural thing to do when you are threatened.

    I really fear that I will push everyone away“- it’s your mother and her husband who push you away, not the other way around.

    I feel as if I have nobody that I can trust and turn to anymore and feel like everyone is against me. I’m really fed up of being so miserable“- being miserable does not have to be a life sentence for you. You’ll need to move out from your mother’s home sooner than later and never move back in again, and then have no contact with her and with anyone who actively threatens your mental health.

    First, move away from danger and then take one step at a time toward a life of personal and social contentment. I would like to communicate with you further and support you emotionally in the context of your thread, as you move farther and farther away from misery, if you would like that and for as long as you do.

    anita

    #426545
    anita
    Participant

    Dear Jade:

    I re-read your previous posts of 2019. Firstly, “I’m deciding to change careers and become a teacher” (May 22, 2019)=> “I tried to channel that negative energy into becoming a teacher and feel really proud about that..  All I have done since then is work” (Dec 30, 2023):

    C o N g R a T u L a T i O n S   for becoming a teacher and working as a teacher!

    Secondly, in your 2nd post here, Dec 30, 2023, you shared that you (35) are living with your mother and her husband: “Since living with them I have cooked and cleaned every day for 7 months. Alongside working 10+ hours a day and commuting for 2 hours a day. One of the reasons moved is because my mum needed some help because her husband was having a heart operation. She has had a really difficult year“-

    – you’ve experienced a painful mix of empathy and guilt in regard to your mother since you were a young girl: “I remember feeling a lot of guilt from my childhood. From early as I can remember. I think I felt guilty that I put such a burden on my mum financially and she was always so tired from working all of the time” (May 2019).

    No wonder that 7 months ago, you moved in with her so to help her. I imagine that it’s the same mix of empathy and guilt that motivated you to move in with her, and cook and clean for her and her husband every day for seven months. And I imagine that you were still hoping that she will love you if you help her enough…?

    You shared about your mother back in May 2019: “She was a really young mum and struggled a bit financially, she was also always looking for love so a lot of different parental figures came into my life and then left… I feel that she was always looking for love from other people instead of getting it from me“-

    – this is unfortunately the experience of many children who grow up with young, single or divorced mothers. The young mother- in her mind, heart and conduct- is a young single woman first. Her focus and priority is finding love elsewhere, outside the home, and then bringing her love interests, one by one, into the home,  leaving her child unprioritized and unloved.

    The consequences: the child feels responsible aka guilty for not being enough for the mother, suffering from guilt, shame (“Shame is the biggest“, May 2019), chronic anxiety and depression (“I have been struggling with depression and anxiety now for about 25 years. I’m now 35″), and the dysfunctional romantic relationships and loneliness that accompany these sufferings.

    On May 29, 2019, you asked for relief and help: “seeking relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression,  help with coping and forming healthy relationships. Just looking for general help with not being able to cope with life!?

    On Dec 29, 2023, you wrote and asked: “I am so unhappy and feel as if I am pushing everyone away so it will only get worse. I am also unsure as to whether this is all me or whether my feelings are truly valid and the people in my life have truly intentionally hurt me. Why am I not happy?“-

    – I believe I answered the Why  in this post, but what can you do about it, what kind of help do you need and where can you get it?

    I’ll try to answer these questions by first suggesting where help is NOT available for you: your mother, her husband, and other family members whom your mother turned against you (“I have found out today that she has told all my family members about her side of the argument”).

    I’d say that it’s not only that Help is not available to you with these people, particularly your mother, but more Hurt is available for you there. This is why I suggested two days ago that you move out of your mother’s home.

    As a famous song says, we are people who need people, so your help is in connecting with people who will help you, not people who will hurt you more. Evaluating people you meet as likely-to-hurt you vs people who are likely-to help-you, and then reevaluating them along the way, is key.

    Psychotherapists/ counselors are trained to help, but not all help. Again, evaluating a therapist and then reevaluating the person/ professional is key.

    Also, understand how difficult it is to heal from long-term childhood trauma, and adapt an attitude of patience with the process of healing, and gentleness with the person courageously going through this process.

    This process is not new to you. When you get back on the healing path, persist, endure and stay on it not only an times of progress, but an times of regression and despair as well. The emotional  healing process is never linear, as in experiencing nothing but progress.

    Are you familiar with the term and diagnosis of Complex Post Traumatic Disorder (CPTSD)?

    anita

     

    #426717
    Star
    Participant

    Jade – I want you to know that I care, and I am sending positive energy your way to help you choose how to proceed.  I think Anita is giving you very good help, and that she is on target.  I will not muddy the waters and allow her to continue to advise you.  But I do want you to know that you are in my prayers.

    Star

    Star

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