Gros Méchant Stress

2009 novembre 6
par pandabox33

Le stress peut me pousser à performer. Mais il peut aussi me faire transpirer du bout des doigts.

Ça serait plutôt ça dernièrement. Je transpire du bout des doigts. Je ne sais pas ce qui m’a pris de m’inscrire à NaNoWriMo en plus d’avoir mes lectures à faire pour mon cours de psycho. En plus, je ne veux pas lâcher mes DVD alors ça ne fonctionne pas aussi bien que je le voudrais. Mon temps est élastique mais pas ma concentration.

Ce n’est pas d’écrire chaque jour qui m’énerve. C’est d’avoir un nombre de mots à atteindre. Je n’arrive pas à écrire autant que je suis supposé. Je pense que je vais écrire chaque jour et advienne que pourra. Peut-être que les jours où j’aurai plus d’idées et d’énergie, j’arriverai au nombre de mots que je suis supposé fournir. Et sinon, tant pis, j’aurai au moins tenté l’expérience.

En tout cas, à date, j’ai tué pas mal de monde dans mes histoires ! C’est drôle, mais bizarre.

Vrai…ou pas

2009 novembre 2

16 mai 2008

Have you ever thought something to be true to discover it was not ? And then discover you may have been right all along ? If there is a time to eat chips, it’s now and lots of it. Instead I eat butter pecans. Not the same at all…

I have felt like there was something wrong about me for the major part of my life. Not as bipolar wrong. Sexually wrong. There were signs that pointed to sexual abuse from before I was 16 and I always thought « something » had happened but I never had any proof.

Then I learned that my mom had lived something incestuous but she wouldn’t tell what and my therapist said that maybe she had transmitted this to me psychogenealogically. I felt relieved. I have no souvenir of anything happening to me that would explain my feelings and fears. So a psychogenealogical explanation kind of popped the balloon of questions I had over my head.

But tonight, in therapy, I talked about what I lived through and what I felt about my different rapes and abuses and the therapist said that it felt like I was transposing another event onto the events that were happening to me at the time. I was talking about what I wrote about in a previous story, last week I think. This paralyzing fear of angering the man, of being hurt and of dying when I wasn’t yelled at, tied down or I didn’t have a gun or knife pointed at me. She asked when did I fear for my life. I had nothing to say. But I asked if babies could fear for their lives and she said yes. Then maybe being shaken and yelled at by my dad when I was a few months old could explain it.

Then I continued talking about my stuff. And I told her about my outer body experiences while having sex. I say it’s outer body because I feel disconnected, not there. I talked about the pain I feel when I have sex, the doctors that say it’s psychological, the sexologist I saw. The pain went away but is now present each time I try having sex. Not the same pain.

10 chansons préférées

2009 octobre 30

Le choix a été difficile !

  1. No More Drama / Mary J. Blige : La chanson originale, pas le remix. Avec le p’tit beat Young and Restless en arrière-plan. No more pain, no drama in my life…Pour tous les souhaits de ne plus avoir de drames dans ma vie, plus de douleur, plus cette tristesse débilitante. No more tears, I’m tired of crying
  2. I can do better / Avril Lavigne : Pour son côté “dans ta face” et pour ma grosse tête. En high, j’ai toujours pensé pouvoir faire mieux que les autres. Ça s’adonne que c’est vrai ! Héhé :) Je dois dire que Avril Lavigne pour peindre, c’est génial.
  3. Humpty Dumpty / Aimee Mann : C’est la chanson qui m’a fait connaître Aimee Mann. Je l’ai écoutée en promo sur le site de Archambault, je pense. L’album au complet traite de santé mentale. Cette chanson-ci me touche vraiment. J’ai écouté son album en boucle.
  4. Sunrise / Norah Jones : La chanson de ma dépression et burnout de l’été 2004 ! Elle me donnait l’espoir que le soleil se lève et que je passe à autre chose, à un jour nouveau.
  5. Twenty One / The Cranberries : Quand j’avais 20 ans, j’écoutais The Cranberries le volume au max et en boucle et je déprimais et je rageais. Twenty One c’était la chanson de mon désespoir. Mais, elle me fait du bien comme l’eau de javel à un obsessif compulsif.
  6. Nocturne en C Mineur Opus 48 #1 / Chopin : Bon, c’est pas une chanson. Mais après des nuits et des nuits d’insomnie, je peux presque la chanter. C’est ce que je mets quand j’ai de la misère à m’endormir. La trame sonore de The Pianist et Les variations Goldberg de Gould.
  7. My Oh My / David Gray : “What on earth is going on in my heart, My oh my, You know it just don’t stop…” La chanson de mon épisode de 1999-2000.
  8. Sur le dos d’un papillon / Passe-Partout : Hep, génération 70-80, que voulez-vous. C’est la chanson de la bonne humeur et c’est celle que je chante aux bébés qui pleurent.
  9. Say it ain’t so / Weezer : J’ai eu de la misère à choisir juste une chanson de Weezer parce que j’aime tout ce qu’ils font. Ils me font rire, danser, chanter, peindre. J’hésitais entre celle-ci et The Damage in your Heart.
  10. Enid / Barenaked Ladies : Eux autres aussi j’ai eu de la misère à choisir juste une chanson, je les adore depuis la fin de mon secondaire. J’écoutais ça en cassette ! J’avais l’impression de vieillir en même temps qu’eux. Pour : “It took me a year to believe it was over, and it took me two more to get over the loss.” Et surtout…” I can get a job I can pay the phone bills, I can cut the lawn, cut my hair, cut off my cholesterol, I can work overtime I can work in a mine, I can do it all for you, But I don’t want to.”

Drop les valises !! Tout de suite !!!

2009 octobre 30

9 juin 2008

We all have baggage but some have way more Louis Vuitton bags for their own good and others’ as well. I have Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana…meaning I have so many issues that I have been in therapy for three years…!

There were emergencies, then there was dealing with what happens every week, there was dealing with my family, now it’s all the shit that unravels the more we go into it. It’s like a ball of yarn.

I attract certain types of guys : the heroes. I also attract the pathetic guys who are not able to see that they have issues. Jealous, dependent to others, alcoholics, depressed…name it. I am a beacon to those guys. They think I’m vulnerable and in need of assistance. I end up assisting them. I am attracted to the strong silent type who doesn’t know how to communicate. They are also indelicate, disrespectful, hurtful, manipulative…Usually they have an absentee father, a crazy mother, they may come from an alcoholic and/or violent family.

With friends it’s the same pattern : dependent, no will power, psychotic, dependent and fusional…

By being in therapy I learn about my patterns so I try to stay away from those people. I wish people would stop their own patterns as well. I wish more people would think they do need help, stop thinking they can do it on their own.

Deuxième Place

2009 octobre 29

Elle était envieuse de tout le monde et de tout mais de sa soeur particulièrement. Elle voulait tout ce que sa soeur avait. C’était la deuxième de la famille. Celle qui recevait le linge que sa soeur ne voulait même pas lui donner, deuxième en tout, deuxième à faire quelque chose, en deuxième place d’une soeur qui avait toujours la première place sans essayer. En tout cas, c’est ce qu’elle ressentait et voyait.

Embrasser des gars à côté des bicycles dans la cour d’école, c’était bien, mais surtout, elle avait l’attention des gens. Elle avait l’attention de beaucoup de gars, beaucoup d’heures de jeu de docteur, elle n’était jamais seule. En plus, elle avait réussi à embrasser l’ami spécial de sa soeur, son p’tit chum, ce qui l’avait vraiment fâchée.

Devenir amie avec les amis de sa soeur c’était bien aussi. Elle finissait par les avoir à elle seule parce que même si c’était une suiveuse, c’était la leader de la meute. Ils voulaient tous être son amie maintenant, elle était tellement plus cool.

Ça a continué comme ça pendant un bout. Couteaux dans le dos, à envier et à obtenir.

Mais, elle ne pouvait pas avoir ce qu’elle voulait vraiment : l’attention de son père. Sa soeur était première là aussi. Elle avait tout même si c’était avec des bleus, des injures, des cris enragés. Elle ne pouvait même pas être en première place avec sa mère non plus. Sa soeur était là aussi. Première en classe, excellant en arts, en français, en anglais et pis quoi d’autre.

Elle ne le savait pas, mais elle le ressentait quand même. Elle n’avait pas été désirée.

Elle enviait l’amour que sa soeur recevait. Sa soeur était plus forte qu’elle. Alors elle avait commencé à se couper, à se brûler. Elle avait rasé ses cheveux, avait commencé à boire et à fumer.

Pour que son père l’aime, elle avait commencé à boire avec lui. Ça ne changeait rien, son père ne pouvait pas l’aimer. Il n’avait pas d’amour à donner. C’était un petit homme pathétique. Un soir alors qu’ils étaient en train de boire ensemble, son père ne pouvait pas conduire alors il lui avait demandé de prendre sa voiture et d’aller le reconduire. Elle n’avait pas de permis mais elle se sentait comme s’il l’estimait, comme si elle était spéciale. pas comme sa soeur qui ne voulait pas boire, sa soeur qui n’était pas là.

Alors elle avait reconduit son père chez lui et dans un état d’ébriété très avancé, ils s’étaient couchés ensemble dans le même lit. Elle s’était réveillée parce que son père essayait de la baiser. Son propre père. Il lui avait fait promettre de garder le secret. Et elle l’avait gardé parce qu’elle voulait qu’il l’aime plus que sa soeur.

Elle avait fugué, était partie dans d’autres pays, toujours aussi envieuse de sa soeur, sa haine pour son père bien ancrée en elle. Ça ne partait pas alors elle avait commencé à sniffer de la coke. Elle baisait avec n’importe qui, insoucieuse pour sa santé, se foutant de son corps et de sa tête. Elle avait enfin fini par avoir quelque chose que sa soeur n’avait pas…Mais, elle s’en foutait. Elle avait plus d’hommes, plus de pouvoir d’attraction. Comme un accident de voitures. Les gens ne pouvaient pas s’empêcher d’être attirés. Par quoi les hommes étaient-ils attirés si ce n’était pas par ça ?

Un jour, elle avait arrêté de fuir dans la poudre blanche. Elle avait arrêté de se couper, de se brûler, de fuir la réalité. Elle avait décidé que si sa soeur ne voulait pas son père, elle, elle le prendrait malgré tout.

Elle se sentait puissante de savoir qu’elle se sacrifiait pour son père alors que sa soeur ne voulait rien savoir de lui. Ils fumaient et buvaient comme des vieux amis. Elle pensait l’avoir juste pour elle.

Mais non. Elle ne l’aurait jamais. Et elle n’aurait jamais toute l’attention, tout l’amour que sa soeur recevait. Après tout, elle était deuxième.

Détachement

2009 octobre 27

5 octobre 2007

Lately, my colleagues have been an infinite source of questioning, answering, discussion, explaining and other synonyms for sighing and talking, eye rolling while I try to find the right words…

This morning, the same colleague as the other day said that when I talked about my experiences with my parents he couldn’t help but be awed by my detachment. And I wonder is it really detachment or emotional unavailability ? I know I am detached from what I talk about in the sense that I talk about it like it’s happening to someone else. I guess I’m emotionally unavailable while talking because if I was emotional I would be all over the place. My parents make me so angry, so sad.

So I explained that yes, I was detached because I was in this mess since I was small. And instead of laughing about it like I used to do and it made everyone feel very uncomfortable I just talked about it and didn’t let my feelings show. I used to laugh because I was very detached from any feeling I had. In fact I didn’t feel a thing, I just couldn’t. But yes, sometimes I get very sad and it hurts inside in my plexus. But I don’t want people to know how sad or angry I am because I don’t want people to toy with my feelings. Instead I just feel it and keep it for a time when I will be able to cry alone or write about it or talk about it to my therapist. That’s what I pay her for every week, so I can have feelings again.

It’s hard for me to allow myself to cry. When I allow myself to become attached to someone, I become so vulnerable, I feel so helpless and I’m so afraid they are going to go away and they’re going to hurt me or die. And you know what, most of the time I’m right, it happens. The last time I allowed myself to care for someone enough to need him to be there he wasn’t. I felt betrayed, once again. And I just wouldn’t cry in front of him anymore because I had done it too much and so many things were happening and I felt so sad and lonely. My life was a mess. My throat became constricted and I just couldn’t cry anymore it just got stuck in my throat and my plexus. It stayed there and hurt.

When I started seeing my therapist and she asked me what I was feeling I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t feeling a thing. “Nothing”. For me it was a good thing. I was doing good if I wasn’t feeling. But for her it wasn’t good at all. It meant everything I was feeling was bottled up very tightly, I was disconnected and she was seeing something else. If I was hurt or was on the verge of feeling something I would just fly away in my head and wouldn’t be there anymore. And when I saw I was doing that I stopped because it reminded me of when I used to go to sleep instantaneously for 15 minutes when I fought with my boyfriends. When I would wake up I wouldn’t remember a single thing we would have done or said.

Yes it’s hard to feel something. It gets easier but you won’t catch me feeling in public ! If I can’t help but cry on the subway, I get off and get back on when it’s over. I have been depressed enough to cry at work and hide in the girl’s locker room or behind the coat rack. Sad enough and helpless enough to hide in stairwells. I was just overwhelmed by these emotions.

Now I just feel it but don’t show it. I don’t want people to know what I feel. I’m a bit like Bones. It’s easier to analyze and see love and friendship from a sociological and biological point of view than to participate. When I do participate and love and have friends life becomes a mess and I get hurt and mad.

But I try.

Self Interview 4

2009 octobre 26

4 octobre 2007

So…what’s new ?

Well, after a couple days where we had more work, we have “one of those days” where the system’s down and we have no requests.

You don’t seem too depressed over it ?

Nope ! I go on Facebook and I go on Dandelife and write my life away !

I saw that you write in French and English ? How come ?

Well, I was raised in a bilingual family. Dad would speak to me in English and I would answer in French. My Dandelife is bilingual because I have some written journals that are in French that I copy but my everyday life is written in English.

But why English ? Don’t you work and live in French ?

Yes. But sometimes it just comes that way and at other times it’s better in English, I know people I know don’t understand it so…

You don’t want people you know to understand what you write ? Why ?

No I don’t. Because sometimes it doesn’t concern them, sometimes I prefer to have my private garden. That’s why some of my stories are private.

If you want to have a private garden, why do you write on the net ? It’s a bit contradictory !

Not really. It’s easier to share with strangers. Plus, I do want to have privacy from people I know but I still want to share with others. Just not everyone I know.

But why ?

Because !! A lot of people around me are better that way, not knowing who I really am. They prefer it this way, they don’t want to know. And I don’t want some people I know to “know” everything about me. I know it’s confusing.

You have family on Facebook who could read you on Dandelife, right ?

Yes. It would be alright. I think that in most cases family members are the ones that are the most close-minded about who we are. They still see us the way they did when we were all very young. My mom is still astounded that I eat vegetables. She still sees me as a little girl who pouts when she puts a plate in front of me. I hated meal time. So I think that reading some things we write is a good way for family to get to know who we are !

You really are kind of bipolar ! This and that, this pole but this pole too.

I hate it when you remind me of it ! My therapist always brings it back. Why do you do this ?

Don’t you think that the way you like both extremes of things is a way of being bipolar ?

Ungh. Yeah. Why not.

You are so reluctant to admit that even if you are not ashamed of being bipolar, your personality is bipolar.

Yes. I. Am. I am not only bipolar, you know ! It’s true I have a tendency to like both extremes of things but it doesn’t mean I am and will only be a bipolar person. I’m not the only one like this.

Of course not.

And I am trying to focus so I come to a certain milieu, a middle.

Hum. Hum.

You drive me nuts !

Well isn’t  true that you will be volunteering with kids ?

Yes ?

But while you are in councelling in orientation to begin new studies, you are considering thanatology ? Virology or immunology ?

Yes…

Well…they are two different poles. Kids are life, freshness, new beginning. But what you are looking at to study and maybe have a new career is death and sickness.

So what ? Maybe I don’t want to do the same thing all over my life. Maybe I like having contraries and contradictions. Big elephant, small mouse. I like challenges, I like movement.

Okay then !

C’est quoi ton secret ?

2009 octobre 26

3 octobre 2007

I could have answered “Secret : strong enough for man, made for a woman” but I just asked what he was talking about.

My colleague was looking at me and asking me what was my secret for staying calm. Hum. I laughed and said “Pills”. I like joking about the fact that I do take Smarties (Topamax and Manerix).

I followed by “What do you mean, calm ?” It could have meant that I look like I am aloof or that I don’t care. But I knew it wasn’t what he meant by that. He wanted to know how I stayed…calm. Detached, focused. It is a weird question. I laughed.

And I answered from my point of view. Here is my secret :

1. I focus on my job and if I have nothing to do I focus on Facebook, on the net, on what I have on my desk.

2. I try not to participate too much in the debates around me. I do at lunch time and I even launch them but when I’m at my desk, I am very into what I’m doing. So I try not to reply to the stupid things my colleagues might say (sexist, racist or other).

3. Contrary to other women my age (according to statistics and tests I’ve taken recently, taken with a professional) I think with logic and not with emotions. So if a guy talks to me, he just talks to me. No time is lost in daydreaming about the beautiful kids we’ll have. I think according to my experience and the data I have and I am in an investigative mood most of the time.

4. I am an introvert. I don’t care what others think and I don’t go much towards others. I keep pretty much to myself. I listen and I watch attentively. I will intervene eventually but not until I have all the facts and I know what to do and what to say.

5. I am emotional when it is time to express myself. But mostly I’m alone or with my therapist. At other times I analyze and learn.

My secret ? I’m an undercover robot here to analyze human behaviour.

Hypersensible, le pôv monsieur

2009 octobre 26

1er novembre 2005

Je viens de passer deux heures au téléphone avec J-F. La conversation s’est mieux déroulée que les précédentes. Il est clair qu’il a de la misère à “dealer” avec ce que je lui ai raconté sur mon passé.

Je regrette de le lui avoir raconté. En même temps, ça me fait voir des choses de lui. Hypersensible, il se sent visé par tout. Et là, il pense que je vais le laisser s’il fait ou dit quelque chose qui me rappelle ce que j’ai vécu.

Excited, now I’m not

2009 octobre 26
par pandabox33

28 mai 2008

I have been dealing with a great deal of frustration, stress and blues and I don’t exactly know why. In fact I’m more distressed than I think I know I am.

Yesterday I was quite excited about something and now, well, not.

I know something is up because my eczema has made a reapparition, dandruff as well even if winter’s over, my chest feels closed up and I sometimes forget to breathe. I feel like I have a very long grumble inside of me…

If I draw myself as I see myself, I would draw a balled up figure scrawled all over in black.