Category: Personal

Another Tour Inside My Mind.

First of all, today was better than the last few. A and I got out and about which I am sure helped. One of the problems with dealing with depression, especially when it digs in deep, is the exhaustion. Doing anything physical leaves me feeling as if I haven’t slept in weeks and though I enjoyed being out of the house, I found myself needing to sleep for several hours. Thankfully it was a better rest than I have gotten many nights when it seems as though all I do is toss and turn, unable to get comfortable or to get my brain to shut off.

When I was trying to relax this afternoon a thought came to me that I need to shift the way I think about what happened in the past. Most of the time I have viewed my memories through the lens of being male when the truth is, this was never the way I actually experienced those events. I tend to think of them in terms of what “he” did or said or experienced and not how I did.

Maybe this sounds strange, I’m sure it isn’t how most people think of their past but I think it is the way I do.

I need to think of these things in terms of what I remember, what I experienced, what I thought and felt and stop trying to embrace something I was never able to fully comprehend. 

The interesting thing is, I think back on so many instances when I would do something or have a question and I would tell myself everyone else did or thought the same things and yet the thought of asking or talking about them was terrifying. I knew then, as I know now, I was not the same as everyone else and they did not have the same thoughts or questions as I did and they would not understand, so I kept my silence.

So, knowing this, why have I thought I could compare myself to whatever self image I had  based those around me? 

Remember the saying, “If a fish judges its self compared to a cat and the cats ability to climb a tree, it will always believe it is useless.”

It’s the same thing for me, a trans person, trying to compare myself to a world full of cis people and by the same token, those cis people around me, judging based on their expectations.

It’s no wonder I’ve spent a lifetime thinking I was broken and worthless.

Welcome To My Mind, Please Don’t Mind The Mess

I’ve avoided writing this post for some time now… There are many reasons why, doubt, fear… Not wanting to be seen as looking for pity… maybe for not wanting to burden others with my problems when I know so many have their own battles to fight…

Now though I find I am having a negative affect on my oldest child at a time when he cannot afford to be distracted from his own issues…

It pains me to know this because I have always thought he was far more important than I, after all, he is just beginning to live his life and I have squandered so much of mine.

So here I sit, searching for words, of the images and thoughts which could explain the growing darkness within myself. One which begs for me to set it free one last time…

I am beyond exhausted… physically, mentally, emotionally… I am spent and all that remains is sorrow and anxiety. An endless weight on my chest and ice in my stomach. I am having trouble sleeping, focusing… Food is almost tasteless, and I have not only lost my former interests, I have also lost my art, my poetry… hopes are fading memories and my dreams haunt me even in the daylight.

My anxiety has become worse, to the point I have nearly collapsed twice this week alone. I am constantly fighting chills which run down my spine then out to my arms and legs, added with bouts of nausea. The depression has become deeper and more settled in than it has for a very long time and I feel even my stress levels have began to spike, leaving me feeling as if my head is in a vice.

I have had several breakdowns over the years… events which cracked and splintered my self image but never completely shattered it… That is what I want. To mentally explode into a million, billion pieces… to crumble into dust and have nothing left, not even a single memory…

Whatever, whoever I was before this moment gone… gone and forgotten.

I don’t want to think anymore,

I don’t want to feel anymore.

I don’t want to remember anymore.


*    *    *

I had to step away for a bit to gather my thoughts…

Unsurprisingly, I took the time to realize everything I am feeling leaves me feeling even more selfish than I did before… I read what I have written and all I see is me, me, me when I know all too well it isn’t just about me and hasn’t been for a very long time. This only adds to feelings of being boxed in again, tighter and tighter…

So what can I do when there is no moving forward, no going back, and no escape?

Like being lost in a maze, I can feel there is going to be a dead end somewhere ahead.


Time to Catch Up.

It is the end of what has been a long and stressful week. It began last week with a family emergency which was a triggering event for me, bringing back many memories and fears. Thankfully things are moving in the correct direction and we, as a family, are gaining the skills, patience, and experience to become closer and stronger.

I have made every effort to keep the focus where it is needed most, which was not on me and even now I am reluctant to insert my own issues into the mix but thankfully, in some unexpected ways, I found myself challenged to embrace my true self even more closely.

Before this happened I was falling into an old pattern, convincing myself I could survive as I had for so many years, drawing a veil around myself to hide in plain sight, to push away the positive feelings and embrace the negative. To berate myself as a fool, delusional, deceived, misguided, a know nothing who was wrong… wrong… wrong.

Yet somehow, every time something has happened, sometimes internally, others externally which blocks off one path while opening another. Every time the new way brought me back to being my authentic self. This time it was external, someone taking it upon themselves to make a brave decision to make me more comfortable. It was touching, it was emotional, and it changed a relationship for the better.

It also left me in tears.

A Long Time In Coming

Life has a way of catching your attention when you have become too distracted by things which, when you think about it, aren’t as important as you had convinced yourself they were. 

Until today I knew my oldest had issues he was struggling with, some he had shared, and as I have now found out, many more he had not. We had a long talk, or I should say, I let him talk. About any and every thing he felt comforting sharing. After everything was said and done I made sure he knew he had A’s and my full support. He has always had it, it has it now and he will have it in the future. That we are his parents and we love him no matter what.