Bronchitis with Bronchial Spasms=Depression

I've thought better of posting something pretty depressing on FB and decided to move it here, instead.
From Second Firsts:
"By the time I discovered the portal to a new world, I’d learned that when you experience a devastating loss from a death, a break up, a job loss or a divorce, what you are left with afterward is a life beyond a regular life. It is beyond a day-to-day experience.

The day I accepted how different I had become because of my grief and realized I was no longer the person I used to be—and that I could never go back—a doorway opened. I stepped through it into a new life that had the potential to surpass my most ambitious dreams.

I was no longer someone who lived her life just like everyone else. I was no longer thinking in the same way as my friends, my family, and my co-workers.

I was no longer talking, acting, and feeling the same.

So I stopped trying to fit the life I had left behind.
And I found that my pain lessened.

My new self was no longer trying to match my old surroundings.

Trying to remake the old life was what had hurt me the most.

At first it was hard to make the transition to being a new me, as I had to practice laughing again and had to face my fears head-on by taking risks again.

Above all else, I had to learn how to trust again.

That was the feeling that took me the longest to recover. But once I did, it took me the furthest."

Christina Rasmussen
from my new book Second Firsts: Live, Laugh and Love Again (Hay House, 2013)

ORDER HERE and learn to live again: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Firsts-Live-Laugh-Again/dp/1401940838

My response:

I am still re-learning how to trust--it is hard. My relationship with my husband was not a healthy one--it was semi-abusive, I never knew which way was up, what he expected or wanted from me. Recently I was in another relationship that echoed some of those themes--yes, this man was different, the abuse was only verbal/emotional instead of including sexual and physical--but I felt stuck the same way, stuck by love. I finally stood up for myself and wouldn't take him back after he broke up with me the third time. My sister is proud of me, says that action shows that I have grown, that it took me that long (6-8 months) to break out of old habits. I think she believes I won't do it again--I wish I believed that, but I still think that, if I were in the same situation, I'd do it all over again. How do you know when you can trust yourself again?

And, men, why do you repeat things you know kill us inside, things we almost broke up with you for? Why do you say things that tell us that you don't want us to talk to you any more, and then never apologize? Why do I let you hurt me like that time and again? I wish I loved you less and me more, maybe just me more. Hope is a blessing and a curse. As time goes by, more of my dreams slip through my fingers--how long until I give up on them and you? Even if I did get married today, how big of a family could we have before it would kill me? For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a big family--now, I wonder if I'll ever get to be a mother at all. Aide says this is short-sighted of me--but the eternities just aren't the same. I don't know that I will feel the same, I don't know who I will be, I can't imagine myself there at all.

This is where I am right now. I have been sick for 4 weeks, and my voice is back to normal as of today. Monday (06/30/14) Aide said I was a "pile of disease" and Nate (friend from work) said I sounded terrible. Rose said I sounded fine. (Thank you, Rose!) Since I came down with this, I have seen Shaun once (for his b-day dinner that I planned before he said we'd just be friends), my visiting teachers once, some of the RS presidency once, Aide and kids once, my home teachers (new HT Ben Mucha and old HT Jason Brown) once, Meghan once (because she left for NYC at the end of June), Emma once (to return a book and pick up more from the series), Nora once, and Fea once. In that order. Looking at it now, it seems like a lot. It didn't feel like it. It felt like I was a pariah and couldn't touch anyone and wore a mask to go talk to Judy, etc, at work so I wouldn't get anyone else sick. I felt very much alone. My home teachers came over to give me a blessing--I was told I'm having these trials so I will gain understanding and strength. I'm feeling quite rebellious about that. What am I not understanding? And maybe I don't want to be strong--I'd just rather stop existing. Yes, let's pretend that would be possible. What would I need to do to earn that reward? You can see I really was not doing well by any definition of the word. I'm hoping to pull myself up out of that pit soon, hopefully before my birthday, because it would be a shame if I still wasn't fit for company by then. I think I'll start a puzzle tonight--isn't that why I put my coffee table downstairs in the first place?


Love and Laughs Always,

Liska

The Great Thaw: a very optimistic title

Today was a fantastic day--it just was. I went to Golden Corral with Jeanie for breakfast, ate too much but loved it, then went to see Emily N. at work while getting oil changed--love killing two birds with one stone that way!! Emily N. said that I sound a lot better than she's heard me in a long time. She was right, and it made me cry--I can cry during fantastic days, can't I? It should definitely be allowable!--because it has been so long. At breakfast, I was talking about things with Jeanie, and how, although I am feeling much better, I am still angry and am not certain I wouldn't yell if Brandon tried to talk to me. She said that I have the right to be angry, that she is still reminded of Josh by certain things. . . I should have asked if she was angry, but didn't. After I saw Emily and picked up Bob, I went to Adrienne's, and E & K tried on dresses I had found at DI--I also got A something, but he was at the movies with Phil, so I don't even know if he knows about it yet. I am almost done with E's hat/scarf, then on to A's sweater! Then I met Meghan at the Bountiful temple and we did a session--best idea ever, I must say, Megmau! I very much needed it.

I cried through at least the first ten minutes of the session--realized I wasn't so much angry at Brandon as I am with myself--I am still terribly, horribly, astoundingly upset that I let him treat me like dirt, like my feelings didn't matter, and that I had to change to make him happy. He complained quite a bit, actually; he didn't like how I sing parts at church, how I wanted to talk late at night [I think that was because it took that long for me to get comfortable enough with him to do it--the rest of the time was busy busy, especially because he tended to be late--more than Mormon Standard time almost always], how I didn't talk to strangers when we hiked, about vegetarian dishes not having meat and about hamburger dishes not having steak, how I chopped onions, that I spent so much time cooking. . . Once he even complained about my singing when I was happy! It was months after we broke up before Rachel heard me singing again!

Part of my frustration is that it reminded me of parts of my marriage, but I know Jeremy loved me(and I'm pretty sure I've already told you so). Nate (most recent therapist) was irritating as all-get-out to help me see that I feel I have to believe that so I can think I'm lovable at all--if he didn't love me, how could anyone else love me? (Pretty sure he doesn't agree with that, in case you were concerned that he's being less than helpful. This was probably not long before stuff changed and I couldn't afford to see him anymore, so we didn't get to the bottom of that particular fallacy of mine.)

Back to the topic--Jeremy loved me; I should have seen that Brandon had stopped long before we broke up. How can I be so stupid? Commence mental self-beratement. It seemed clear what I needed to do--make an appointment with the bishop and see what I can do to fix this. I'm also pretty sure this is why I've been having such a problem wanting to go to church--it's like I'm closing myself off from spiritual things because it hurts too much, like I don't think this wound can heal and so I just want to curl up in a little ball and die. But this is not the case. I'm sure HF has been trying to point this out to me, and I've been skirting the edges of this big thing (malignant tumor?) because I can't stand it--this hurts!

I don't know how to get this to fit in, but I think it deserves to be in here somewhere, and I'm too tired to suss it out properly. I texted Adrienne, and she said: "You're not entirely to blame, you know. He took advantage of you. And I doubt he stopped caring. I think it's more likely that he started taking you for granted. You love so easily that he forgot that you have to work for it in relationships, not to earn it, but to deserve it." Of course, I responded by pointing out how he treated me and how I shouldn't've put up with it as long as I did. She responded: "No, you shouldn't have, but you got out. That's the key. You thought that loving him enough would make him see how 'worthy' you were of treating well. He never saw it. I was (and am) so proud of for doing that." And then: "Maybe you can try putting a different spin on it instead of just obsessing with how long you stayed around when he didn't treat you right. You gave him every opportunity to appreciate you. You gave him the benefit of every doubt. That demonstrates an amazing capacity for patience and Christ-like love! You gave him every change and when he didn't step up, you stepped out I wish you would give yourself more credit for overcoming your insecurities and standing up for yourself!" Then: "You beat yourself up for a long time for you letting Jeremy being unkind/abusive to you and you didn't have time to straighten things out with him, but when similar trends appeared with Brandon and you faced it in the same way you reacted to Jeremy, you made a change--of course it took you time to stand up for yourself! You had to undo years of thinking of yourself in a certain way--as broken, as deserving of unkindness--but you did it! You turned it around and took a stand. You overcame Jeremy and John and Brandon as well as your own fears and insecurities. Own your awesomeness!" I'm crying again. See how amazing my sister is? I had never thought of it that way. Nate would agree--I think he was trying to guide me to this realization.

I need to remember this, and start counteracting my craziness with these truths, and soon. I think Shaun is fantastic, and am pretty sure I need to fix this before being able to get much of anywhere with him. Second triple date is next weekend, and I've already texted the executive secretary to set up an appointment with the bishop, but the next available appointment is 05/18/14. I want to talk this all out with someone sooner than that, think I'll check with one of the advisory couples at church. . . I miss my great guy friends that I used to talk everything through with! I need to think and sleep on this.