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lostit
Senior Contributor

My first post, a work in progress.

At 47 I am only now putting together the puzzles that I have lived with since I was a small kid. I don't see my life improving so I can't see why I should bother.

It's a tangled mess of abuse and trauma and then being sidelined. And that was before I was even aware of what I was going through. I just wandered about completely unaware. I knew something was wrong but all the abuses were zipped away by my brain. I suppose it was only protecting me from the trauma that the truth can present. 

I feel as if I've been put in isolation, like an alien. I suppose I have presented with a full on presence but that was from a combination of the behaviours and frustrations connected to the conditions and circumstances I've had to endure, the sense that people like me, and that might be the crux of it, just aren't wanted. I'm losing it; the desire to be understood and accepted, that is. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe tht's what been my problem from the start, the reason all this stuff happened. 

I hear people 'thinking' at me as they drive buy, with their sarcastic "Are you Happy?"s and various other taunts and jeers. I maintain that I'm psychic, feel free to tell me I'm sick. Clairaudience was probably a word before schizophrenia was. I've been given many indications of my psychic activity but it really didn't kick in for me until later in life and by that stage the trenches had been dug, all around. 

Then there's literally, people yelling at me from their cars as they drive by. Twice in the last two days. It's not the voices that are hard to live with, it's the memories, clear and hard, the evident opposition to my existence, the need for people to chip away at my spontaneity and natural state of calm. And before that it was the knowing that something was off but I didn't know what. 

I  swing from one extreme to the other. I don't know if there's ever really been a time when I had any actual peace in my life and that probably makes for some strange character traits. But not knowing anything other than what I've tried to put down here makes it hard to know what I'm aiming for.

Nothing means anything now, unless you offer to sit with and listen to my story, because it does my head in and it never goes away and it's who I am. 

I guess one positive is that I feel a sense of relief. I stop caring what people think as they either don't understand or they don't care. So I don't bother. It's a mindset of determination that can be exhausting. I go from puritanical spartan to alcoholic grub and then back again and they're both extremes.

When I've had a bit to drink I get too focused on the hardships and go on a blaming rampage. Which, while being negative, helps me to identify where things have gone wrong. 

I'm not what you'd call an easy going person to be with. I don't have any real friends. I think I've lost trust that anybody could ever be my friend. And if they did offer friendship I'd be extremely suspicious. I feel hated. It seems I have a negative vibe even when I'm 'happy'. I'm just at a loss these days. Wishful thinking gets me through. Wishing that one day all this stuff will indeed be part of the past. But before it can be part of the past, it has to be resolved. And there's some pretty stubborn obstacles in front. 

7 REPLIES 7

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

Welcome to the Forums @lostit

It sounds like a lot of things have come to the surface for you in recent times. It seems as though you’re at the start of a journey of understanding and processing those things. It’s no wonder you feel like you’re swinging between extremes. There are other forum members on similar journeys who I'm sure can relate to your story. 

We’re happy to sit and listen here on the forums so please keep posting Smiley Happy

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

I have often only hung on by the skin of teeth ...

 

They say it is important not to worry what others think about ourselves. 

 

Welcome to the forums ..

 

I dont believe there are magic pills .. but hope that sharing helps.

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

Hi @lostit I wanted to also jump in and say welcome, and thanks for sharing.

I hope you find that there is a welcoming community here and that you discover that there are people here who will not only be interested to listen to your story and experience but will also gain comfort from what you share and how it makes them feel less alone in their own journey. I know I personally value hearing others stories and experiences.

 

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

Thanks @grubbytoes, I have been busy doing the rounds on support lines and online chat and hopefully I start to do or make some serious progress. You think it's ok when it's not sometimes and you really have to find yourself hitting rock bottom (again) to address matters properly.

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

Thanks Appleblossom. Sometimes sharing is all I want to do because I don't feel as if there's anything 'wrong' with me, just that I've been through some stuff that is starting to take it's toll. So I'm not feel like it is a mental illness so much as a set of bad experiences that have further consequences for me. Sarting to feel very much a victim now.

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

I have to admit I have been on a few blaming rampages myself ... but I think you are right ... we have to do that as then we identify what actually happened.

How can we adapt or survive our circumstances if we dont have an inquiry ... anyway that is the way I understand ... my approach to dealing with a lot of the events in me life ... be clear ... what happened ... what were the relationships and responsibilities of those involved ... what is deemed aas normal or adequate conditions for life etc..

The issue that is bad is when we are locked into blame and start feeling retaliatory ...

I started to feel annoyed ... as I started to watch govt enquiries on the news ... when stuff happens it is the responsible thing to figure out what happened.

I completely understand you dont want to be pathologised and that can be empowering ...

Sometimes we are vicitims and need to assess our woundedness and do some healing ... and then we get to be in a stronger more secure place.

Re: I have all but given up the fight.

@Appleblossom Yes, you're right. Nowadays people's eyes glaze over and I can tell I'm wasting my breath on them. Just about 100%. In fact it's only the phone counsellors that will let me speak about it and give me some feedback and of course yourself.

And it's not like I've been doing it for years and years. Not to me anyway. Oblivious of anything until I was twenty seven when at xmas my passed cousin's family asked me to stay back and have a chat. They asked me and I gave the same answer. That is, "No" I did not push him. I was actually so shocked at the question that I let out a quick "ha". It was so unexpected to me. That may have sparked the inner inquiry and the process of accessing the flashback style memory retrieval that occurred about five years later. Because what they said that night stung me a bit. Stung my brain into action. 

Giving up the fight isn't quite saying what I mean because I have really given up carting those injustices around with me. I've pretty much cut off all contact with my entire family. I've made a lot of mistakes so people are only to mindful of my personal history post childhood; the adolescent years of being a bit impressionable and ready to do anything to impress. And I know people preyed on that. I was one of those non confrontational types but who would do anything for a bit peer group approval.

You might say I have given up the fight for everybody else's sakes and decided to start fighting for myself. So maybe it should say "I have taken up the fight" at the top of the page.

But I never got retaliatory because I know those actions have consequences. I think that's been a small miracle because some people aren't so subtle in their bullying. They do one thing and then deny it, and it's so hard not to want give that person a bit of "What for!" but It's like it's become ok to push certain people towards snapping.

It's ok when they do stuff like that but then if I ask "Why?"They say I'm overreacting and if I ever did anything like they have to me they'd say I was losing my mind and perhaps I need some help. (Because if you really want to hurt someone, it seems you convince everyone around them that they have a psychiatric problem.) They don't get legal because those things can backfire. You see they show anybody from an outside perspective that they 'care'. And under such stress that's been applied I've succumbed and volunteered for assistance, even though, at the time, I had no clear knowledge of what I was suffering from. Just that something wasn't right.

That's where having a deep but personal sense of philosophy and spirituality becomes vital. I keep everything in such a perspective that these things will happen; it actually brings a sense of pride, which to others, I'm sure makes me look delusional and even narcissistic. And I know I am one of those people who talks about himself alot, and builds himself up. But I need to, because I get taken town alot. The people around me, my family, have gotten good at it, they sort of relish it. 

Yeah, so I know how it feels for you to be poked by what you see on the telly and starting thinking things over; and from a victims point of view any discoveries are lethal overdoses that can send over the edge.

And yes we come out stronger. I don't know about you but I feel like the victor in this situation of mine because compared to what's been done to me pretty much kept myself from harming anyone, particularly at that level. So I hope you can stick your chest out too and give yoyrself a pat on the back, because you should be proud of yourself.

I think this reply has gone longer than the rest of posts put together.

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