Where do you run when you have trouble or extreme problems?

Denial, avoidance, and depression sleep.

One of my older sisters and still, to this day, my 93 year old mother. She says that she can’t die as long as she’s still needed, so I guess she’s going to be immortal. On a physical level, I retreat into a hot bath, books, sleep and as much quiet seclusion as possible. I tend to physically manifest stress with having the shakes and feeling very cold, so the hot bath/sleep is how I “treat” those symptoms.

Hot baths
Therapist
Walks
Xanax
Talking with best friends

- In no particular order.

My mom, my husband, sometimes if I’m really upset I need a ‘rager’ where I just go have drinks or whatever, dance and forget my manners for a bit, but the next day when none of that has helped, I pray and release it.

I’ve gone almost my entire life with no one I could run to if the troubles got too big. And it hasn’t been easy. I just have to deal and move on.

My SO.

My wife, my therapist, a couple people here, and a few drugs seem to help.

Lately, mainly myself. Close relatives are gone or barely functioning, some of the friends I used to confide in have drifted away (they have their own problems), sharing personal information with managers and co-workers is discouraged in my office, and I don’t have an s/o. But lest I paint too bleak a picture, my brother, with whom I’m no longer very close, did make himself available to me during a recent mini-crisis, and I do have one or two friends I won’t hesitate talking to if I need them.

I retreat to my thoughts and live in my head. I don’t externalize my problems, and sometimes I don’t acknowledge them. I push through them, so I think by the time I’m 25, I’ll have this huge load of problems I’ve never dealt with.

Snacks and DVD’s.

I’ll go to a bar and hope to meet someone. I have no idea why I do this since I never do meet anyone. But more lately, I’ll just hang out online. There are a lot of places where people are semi-sympathetic. Of course, it’s not as nice as the sympathy of a real person.

Since the death of my father, I really have nowhere to go. I guess I go to my happy place and ask “what would Dad say” then proceed.

I talk it over with my mom, who passed away 25 years ago. Her thoughts are still in my head.
Sometimes I take a long hot shower.
If it’s something he can help with, I go to my husband, but he usually tells me to see my doctor.
I consult the internet.

Music, writing, and pajamas.

I have a couple of friends I can talk to. They’ll do anything for me. Or at least, that’s what they say. I suspect they mean anything they reasonably can do given their life restrictions. But it’s good enough. Better than good enough. One saved my life. The other keeps it saved.

wundayatta : Now that’s what I call friends!

There’s one particular counselor at my college counseling center who I’ve seen on and off since 2010. We have good rapport and she’s seen enough of my life to know the usual things I struggle with.

I still go to my parents, too. I’m not as dependent upon them as I once was, though.