I’m having a bad mental health day and it feels like everyone is blaming me for it. I try to warn people when what they’re doing is triggering for me, but no one listens and I end up getting triggered and crying, screaming, and yelling for people to stop. But they won’t stop and what makes it worse is that they look at me like I have eight heads and that my reaction is uncalled for. I ALREADY SAID I COULDN’T HANDLE THIS AND THEN YOU KEEP PUSHING ME! And then they make me feel bad for trying to protect my mental health. They tell me that I should just “let it go” when I have to tell someone repeatedly to stop hurting my feelings because the person who’s hurting my feelings will never understand and it’s as though I’m feeding their vitriol by fighting back. In part, they are right, but when I’m in the middle of a breakdown and someone continues to harass me, all I want them to do is stop because I’m so overwhelmed, and the feelings I’m having aren’t something I should keep inside me. Keeping my feelings bottled up will only make things worse and lead to more outbursts. And then people continue doing the things that trigger me because they can’t see why what their doing is hurtful to me and if they can’t see a “logical” reason, then my reasons and feelings couldn’t possibly be real; I’m just being “lazy” and “fussy”. And I’m told and made to feel that I’m being annoying.
I’ve held together pretty well during quarantine/covid times but so many bad things have happened recently and I hate to admit it but I’m overwhelmed. I try to do things to take care of my mental health and to pace myself but then I’m made to feel like those things are a waste of time. I’m made to feel like I’m just a toddler having a temper tantrum. I’m made to feel lazy because I’m so messed up mentally that I can’t fulfill my adult responsibilities. I already give myself enough crap about not being able to do normal things.
All I need is time and space to cool off and then I’ll be fine. But things keep coming at me one after another. I’m not trying to be selfish when I say that I need time for myself, but it always feels like people are interpreting me as being selfish and self-centered, as though I think my problems are more important than theirs.
I try to reach out and then I’m made to feel like I’m a burden. I’m sure I’ve alienated people and made some people feel horrible through my outbursts, but I’m not trying to hurt anyone and I always feel bad when I do. I try my best to do things right and I know I’m failing but I’m trying so hard. I can’t take this anymore. I feel like I don’t have a safe space to decompress and when I “open the window to cool off, hate pours in instead”. My depression and anxiety has come back with great force this weekend. They’ve been increasing steadily over the past month. I’ve been having huge panic attacks for the first time in a long time and I’m so frustrated that they’ve returned. Last weekend my depression and anxiety started to escalate. My asthma compounds everything. I’ve had to use my rescue inhaler 3 times in the past week because of a change to my regular medication and emotional stress is a major trigger for my asthma. I was starting to feel better but then I had a major trigger two days ago and I keep feeling worse and worse.
I can understand why people don’t want to deal with me right now. I wouldn’t want someone screaming and crying in my face all the time, so of course they need to step away from me for a while.
But I feel abandoned. And I’m made to feel like this is only my fault. It’s not just me who’s to blame. I might be the one who’s having pains or a panic attack or an asthma attack but if someone continues to harass me, that will obviously make the symptoms worse.
Even though one thing I feel I need right now is solitude to sort out my thoughts, when people go away from me angrily like this, or if I have a fight with someone about needing solitude and quiet, I can’t shut off the negative thoughts and I can’t calm down enough for “quiet time” to be useful. I am unable to concentrate and feel paralyzed and unable to help myself or anyone else.
I need someone to pull me out of the water. I’m drowning.
[This is probably the twentieth edit I’ve made to this post but I wanted to add that I know I’m not the only one who’s going through a rough time right now. Even normally, everyone is fighting a battle that you don’t see. I know that right now is an especially hard time because of the state of the world, whether it has to do with covid, racial injustice, or politics, or something else. I’m not trying to lessen that by saying “I’m having a bad day”. I know that people might be more short-fused than usual and that might be part of why I’m being treated the way I am when I’m upset about things.]