Len523

Sitting with you and sending lots of care, comfort, and support, Len.  I hope you'll be able to celebrate your birthday a little bit. Best wishes.

Thank you I'm already emotionally exhausted the closer it gets to the day but my family is already helping prepare to celebrate so hopefully I can overcome the feeling

Sending positive vibes. It's never fair that we can identify what should be good and happy days with trauma or even grief of a loved one. Hoping you are able to focus on the good and I'm glad your family is helping. 

No truer words will I speak today...I hope you have a happy birthday, Len. I really do.   

That's great!! Congrats! I hope it goes well.  

I'm sorry about the awful nightmare.  I hope tonight will be better.

I hope so as well, I'm not sure what triggered it because I actually had a great day beforehand. I was finally out of a depressive pit and the dream threw me right back in

Cute!

Eeee I love it!! 

Ah nice one @Len523 Glad that talking things through helped and old friends are always a good distraction  

Thank you! Its harder since I'm back home alone now but I'm at least glad I could tell my T so we can start there next time 

I agree with Mary...you don't owe him anything, not even a reply. You know your answer, so it might be for the best to just delete the message and pretend it never happened. Block his number if needed, too. I'm glad you're going to talk to your T about him and what to do. Best wishes to you.  

Thank you both  

I've been sitting here for the past two-ish hours stressing out about it but I'm glad I haven't sent anything because I think not responding is in my best interest here. I feel a little less panicked than I was before thankfully so I'll delete it and try to ignore. I have him blocked everywhere except discord (because of a mutual friend group chat and a volunteer group chat) and apparently he tried messaging on those platforms before trying this one..

I'm glad you decided to delete it. This is your best interest and that should override everything else. Hopefully it helps you destress about it. Since you can't block him on discord, just ignore him as much as you can.  

I had a similar experience. Sometimes an hour In T can cover lots of topics, sometimes It can't. Interestingly enough, I feel like I do the most work outside of therapy and that's cool too. I also love that you thought of a blog because writing things down makes everything In your mind a little more "understandable"? If that makes sense...If you like, you can check out my blog for Ideas to get you started (only If you feel like It). Anyways, good luck!

Perhaps start by throwing some words on a WORD document or scribbling notes on a piece of paper. The good thing about wherever you do start...nobody here will judge. Most of us get it, too. I think we've all had too many emotions, not enough writing clarity. It can be a relief tho, just to get some of it out.

Wishing you luck with this.  

I'm glad you were able to get through your traumaversary.  That's a big accomplishment! I'm so sorry though about getting sick and not sleeping well. I hope you feel better.

Thank you so much! I'm hoping to get some sleep tonight since resting might help. I have my 2 year old niece to thank for the cold...

I listened to music and drew the whole time, and I'm so glad because the topic was on the exact thing my brain was already spiraling about the other day

It's nice she was upfront and gave you that option. Glad you recognized music and drawing was your way to self-care during the lecture. And gifts? Nice.    

I'm sorry you're not feeling comfortable in class today, it sounds like that would be a difficult thing for any survivor to listen to. Sitting with you in support, if ok. 

I'm sorry you were feeling triggered in class. Remember it is okay to miss a class if it becomes too much or if it is really affecting your mental health. When I took a criminal law class, I had to skip the s*x crimes unit myself. 

Thank you, I wasn't in a great state of mind so I forgot to respond here, but I appreciate the support.

The class itself is specifically about that subject because unfortunately there weren't a lot of options available to fill that section of the degree requirement (I'm on my last few semesters and needed to add this to remain full time). I've been getting better at dealing with the topics in class, but when the unit came in to speak with us they starting telling us (very explicitly) about recent cases they worked, and it was a lot more triggering than the normal lessons

Oh no.  That's really frustrating! I hope the hot water came back so you could bathe. Sending you support.  

I hope the anxiety has subsided. Panic attacks truly are not any fun. 

Sending support and positive vibes that you are feeling better soon.  

Its a little better from what it was when I posted, thank you for the good vibes 

Oh no. I'm sure it will be very difficult to handle...lots of triggers.  But please know you aren't alone. You are safe and among friends here. Take gentle care of yourself.  

So true. I have complex PTSD and fireworks always trigger. I am so sorry. 

They always trigger for me too unless they're the whistly ones, the popping sound is connected to the trauma and I also hate loud/abrupt noises because of different trauma so it just sucks all around