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Yesterday as I drove to work the news on the radio was grating as it usually is so I randomly punched a button and got the college station playing Eastern Orthodox liturgical hymns in Russian. It was so surreal and unexpected that it seemed like a sign of something. It was also incredibly calming so I searched out the station website to find out what was playing. Of course there was a playlist for every episode of that particular show, except for today. I guess it will remain a mystery. Though I might go through some of the back playlists and try and find some of the pieces. I could use some sacred calls to God right now even if, no especially if, I can’t really understand them.
Work was work, in it’s long, boring, but excellent source of escapism kind of way. I came home through icy streets and took a long, long shower. When I got out, Hawthorn was home. We talked about our days. We had a long conversation about my new medications and side effects and how I was feeling. And then he took a deep breath and said, “I’m just not sure I can sustain a long term relationship. I’m not sure how serious I can be about us.” Yeah, you fucker, I know, you keep telling me. So I said, “Can it. Just take a deep breath and let it go.” He tried to reiterate that he loved me and it wasn’t me &c. but I cut him off and said, “Seriously, take a deep breath and let it the fuck go. I don’t even care enough about this right now to talk about it.”
And you know, I don’t. I mean I do care. I want to work it out. I want everyone to have space to breathe and regroup and revisit it all in the future, but oh my fucking good goddamned hell, I can not keep having the same fucking conversation about it. I have been telling him since the beginning that the pressure for long term, consolidated, expressly planned relationship is all in his head. He acknowledges that I have never pressured him, nor even brought the subject up. He asked me to move in with him. You could go so far as to say he pressured me, or perhaps just badgered me until I said yes. And now, 11 months after he started seriously courting me, he’s just not interested in following through? Fucking fucking fuck. I still feel it would unfair of me to scream, “I gave up my whole life plan for you, you fucking selfish asshole.” Since I do want to own my choices and I made the choice to be here. However, I can safely say that I didn’t necessarily make it in my right mind, and I won’t go so far as to say I’m being punished for that because I don’t think the universe is vindictive, but enough already. At least this time I can hopefully dig myself out of one hole before I fall right into the next one.
I actually feel good about being that angry about the whole thing. I mean, I still need to get him on the train about how right now is about me and unless he’s expressly going to talk to someone (else) about his crap then I am not interested. Because I tell you what, I certainly am not getting better listening to his fucking midlife crisis.
All that said, my current plan is to stay here, in this house, in my own room, with my own things, through April. I will at that point assume plenty of student and musician vacancies and try and find something for myself. I have support in the interim. I know if it gets really bad, some friends have a guest house up the street they will certainly let me use. But really I just need some time to get the rest of me together, I do not want to move right now. And if that means shutting Hawthorn down every time he tries to put his unnecessary worrying on me, then I’ll do it for the sake of cheap rent and at least not feeling isolated and alone. I really do not want to live by myself right now, it doesn’t feel at all safe. And while the entire Hawthorn situation has a bunch of emotional baggage that goes with it, I’d really rather be here. I’ll take his bullshit, since it comes with genuine hugs and many very solicitous gestures (surely born of guilt).
I don’t know what will be different next week, but I just keep repeating to myself that I need to get through this week. Like that is a big enough goal for me. I think I’m going to take some sick time Friday afternoon so I don’t have to go back to work after my therapy appointment. Saturday I’m hopefully going walking with good friend, Violet, so I can fill her in on all of this and feel like I have allies in this city too (my reasons for being less open with her about this are mostly because I kind of can’t stand sympathy, so I really needed enough distance to be able to deal with people reactions).
Last night I got a decent night’s sleep and as always when that happens, everything seems much less dire today. Also I seem to be tolerating the Lexapro much better than the Zoloft. Less stomach ick and dizziness and all. I’ve decided to hold off on the muscle relaxants for 3 or 4 days until I’m sure of how the other drugs are making me feel. Although I really, really am looking forward to not having the muscles in my shoulders feel like they are made of metal.
This morning I accidentally found listings for hotels for sale in Spain, so I will pepper my workday with fantasies of being a hotelier in the Pyrenees.
How much better would life be if this was the path you walked home from work?
I am not having a good day. I assume it’s the medication switch up. Last night instead of my usual Zoloft (and occasional Klonopin), I took Lexapro several hours after taking Skelaxin for the locked muscles in my neck. I woke up just after midnight feeling fairly wide awake, although dizzy and disoriented. I know I went back to sleep but I don’t really feel like I slept at all. This morning I am shaky and a little queasy (although less nauseaous than I was with the Zoloft). I have a weird migrainey headache that is sporadic but leaves me feeling like there is a wide open hole running down the side of my skull.
Last night I commented to Hawthorn that I’m not really pleased with taking SSRIs at all. I do want to get better, I hope this is a way towards feeling better, but right now they are making me feel YUCKY. It seems like some regimen of Klonopin, physical therapy and psychological therapy should be enough. I functional enough most of the time, I guess, but I definitely have moments where I wonder if I should be driving at all (even when I’m feeling clear headed) or doing anything besides laying on the floor hoping it all passes. Hmm, re-reading this I sound like I’m way over dramatizing it. I guess I just don’t like feeling like my body is full of chemicals. And I was already feeling like my mental stuff was out of my control and presently the drugs don’t yet seem to be changing this. So I feel anxious, crazy and now nauseaous too. Wheee!
My plan for right now is to just get through this week. Hopefully with lessening side effects. And while I will surely keep documenting my stupid love life and drug reactions here, I’d like to use this space to keep track of the good things too. Working toward a more positive focus as a way out of the anxiety. We’ll see. Just this week, gotta get through this week.
I had a breif exchange with Oak last night. He said he was feeling lonely despite enjoying time with his friends. I suggested that the upheaval of the past year (being overseas, his family problems, our break up) might have left him feeling a little disconnected. He said that yes, spending time with two happily married couples who seemed to have it all probably was contributing to his sense of loneliness. And you know, I’m pretty sure it was a fairly off hand comment on his part but it hit me like a ton of bricks in the chest. Oak back tracked and said it was no big thing, just an off night for him. He admonished me to keep busy, keep distracted and promised that if I could get through this it would get better. “This” I suppose means either move out and away from Hawthorn, or piecing it back together with Hawthorn and settling down.
The two giant, leafless trees outside my window are filled with hundreds of little birds fluttering between branches and telling each other about the snow. Tiny winter birds of happiness. Today I will make them an omen to help me remember that spring is never that far away.
I think my weekend away with my mom and sister helped me feel less trapped and freaked out. I spent a whole day with my mom who was really sympathetic about the PTSD (though she later chastized me for not talking about it sooner and I know talking about stuff is something I need to work on, more on that in a minute). My mom was relatively unresponsive on the Hawthorn situation. She was sympathetic but pretty much just said that I should try and work it out with him and if it becomes clear that it isn’t going to work out, then just find myself an apartment and move on. She wasn’t callous about it or anything, just matter-of-fact. But all of it feels less dire after talking to her about it, so that good.
Then I spent an entire day with my little sister, Dahlia, who has her own heap of life drama, so I did my best to be understanding and helpful and not add to her burden. She felt like my anxiety issues really explained a lot of my behavior in the past year. She had no commentary on the Hawthorn situation, except to say that if seemed he was going to get my name tattooed on him I should break up with him because that’s just weird. Heh. No risk of that happening.
Finally I spent some time with my oldest friend in the world, Rose, who suffers from agoraphobia and anxiety and had a really good long talk with her. She made me feel less crazy and more supported. She thinks that I should sever it with Hawthorn and beg Oak to take me back. With the caveat that I shouldn’t be making any decisions right now, at least until I start feeling like I’m on an even keel again.
I went to the doctor today and we agree the Klonopin is excellent and helping. The Zoloft not so much. Dr. was really unhappy with the side effects (dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, stomach upset) and that it seemed to be making me more jittery. She didn’t think the side effects would go away if they hadn’t already and really didn’t want to increase my dose, so she switched me to Lexapro, which I’ll start today. She also got me into physical therapy for the tension and pain in my neck and shoulders and gave me muscle relaxants.
The weather here at home is bleak and wintery. I know some folks love snow but it feels desolate and oppressive to me. I am, I think, maintaining a fairly positive outlook, given everything, but I’d just assume see that sun while I’m trying to get better.
Friday is my therapy appointment and I’m very much looking forward to it. I know I have trouble asking for help and I certainly need to get over that. But I also just have problems talking sometimes. Like it really is easier for me to write it all out than to say it out loud. I find often there are things I want to say but the words sort of stick inside me, like there’s some unidentifiable thing forcing me to keep to myself. Also I really value personal privacy. I’m unlikely to share a lot of myself with anyone, even a lover or a boyfriend, but it’s never been to the extent where I felt like I couldn’t even if I wanted too. So I am really going to try and work on being more open (in therapy, not just wishing I would be, but like actively working on it). I want to dissolve whatever blockage is holding in my words and my feelings.
I did talk extensively with Rose about how I feel fine talking to Oak about things. And maybe it’s not just my comfort level of talking to him, but I actually feel like he’s listening when I talk, which is something I don’t experience with very many people. (This is what prompted Rose to suggest I should get back with Oak vs. Hawthorn, not some personal preference, just she thought I should be with someone I could really talk to.)
I’m not homesick like I thought I’d be. I did have some very nice moments with my family and I’m hard to preserve those as memories I can reflect on on a rainy day. Something I need to do more of. I’m considering cataloging some of it here, but some of it feels too personal to even put on paper. Not because I don’t want to share it, but because speaking it or writing it might somehow diminish the magic of it.
A good trip over all. I feel more supported and less isolated, but perhaps no less confused than I was before.
Blue Star Chickadee 