*breathes*
I am okay.
I am okay, in this moment.
I will be okay, no matter what my brain is trying to tell me.
It’s miswired, poor thing, and it’s just trying to help by signaling to panic.
You do not need to panic.
Things will be okay.
Okay?
Okay.
(okay to reblog, if it helps you)
13/01 – contact
#well#this is nice#people are just trying to help#would you rather they didnt try to look after you?
tbh like. this comic is how it feel with anxiety on bad day tho. it’s like. plucking up the nerve to even talk is hard. having to make the first move to talk? harder. hardest of all is talking about something goin wrong in yr life.
it’s like. a constant struggle between wanting to talk/not being able/also not wanting to be a burden. which i *think* is the intended message of this comic.
one way of looking at it is like. anxiety is living in an isolating, solitary bubble. things are awful within the bubble, but you just sit there thinking WELL if i don’t move or speak to anyone or do anything then it can’t get any worse!
and training myself out of that and opening up is the hardest thing i have ever done.
thank you for explaining to me, now i understand more about these things my own brain has never done. i don’t know what i can do to be more of a help during these times but at least i know now?? ❤
Just seen the commentary, and Yep that was pretty much the intention. This drawing was about the self-perpetuated despair and frustration that I can’t always make use of the support I’m lucky to have. In some states, I feel paralysed and genuinely too frightened to verbalise the levels of distress I’m in, in case I upset someone or they don’t know how to help and I will then be responsible for causing them upset and worry. Trying to articulate to someone you love or care about that you might be at serious risk feels dangerous. It’s not about wanting people to go away or stop caring, it’s about the difficulty of allowing yourself to be caught by the safety net others can provide, and recognising that it’s better to do that pre-damage/pre-crisis than not making contact until you’re ringing from hospital feeling like a complete tit.
I made a few illustrations about what it feels like to have social anxiety. I hope people that can relate are comforted to know other people have similar experiences.
See more illustrations of What the World Looks Like With Social Anxiety
This is one of the most accurate things I’ve ever seen on this.
Be kind to yourself. Stop telling yourself that whatever you are struggling with “should” be easy. If something is hard for you, it is hard for you. There are probably Reasons, though those may just be how you are wired. Acknowledge these things. When you finish something hard, be proud! Celebrate a little.
And really, just stop saying “should” to yourself about your thoughts and feelings in any context. You feel how you feel. The things in your head are the things in your head. You can’t change either directly through sheer force of will. You can only change what you do. Stop beating yourself up for who and what you are right now–it isn’t productive. Focus on moving forward.
my therapist taught me to start thinking of my anxiety as my panicky friend
it’s working???
this is so cute omg
Woah this is super useful!!
For all my anxious friends out there.
This totally works! Some of us get stuck in the sense that we *are* our emotions, so they overwhelm us and we can’t do anything about them. When you give your emotion an identity separate from you, it gives you the distance to make better judgments about it, and to comfort yourself better. 10/10 therapy veterans would recommend.
Good thing to remember right now
this helped me SO MUCH TODAY.
Mental illness eats up processing cycles and corrupts data.
Yes! I spend so much precious brain processing power on this!
As an autistic person with major anxiety issues, I do a lot of comfort watching (and watching, and rewatching). I like mysteries, and have a fond affection for Agatha Christie. David Suchet’s Poirot and Geraldine McEwan/Julia McKenzie’s Marple are series I can watch over and over and enjoy just as much every time.
And as a knitter, as someone who knits every day to help control my anxiety, keep my mind active and make a little pin money on the side, it’s a wonderful thing to watch the skill with which both Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie knit.
They’re not just mocking for camera – they’re both wonderfully accomplished knitters who can knit speedily, often without looking at their work, all while delivering a performance. How often is there something made for television or film these days that involves a character doing any kind of handcraft, let alone a fibre art? There are so many of us out there in the modern world who still knit for pleasure and for pasttime and for pocket money. It’s lovely looking at media and admiring characters wearing everything from a jumper to a hat to a woolly scarf, and guessing what might have been lovingly hand knit by someone in the costume department, but actually seeing it knit on screen – that’s a rare joy indeed.
giveaway!
we are: a household of three non-binary autistic folks, two of whom have bpd, one of whom is schizophrenic, all of whom struggle with anxiety/depression stuff with all the trimmings. we know brain weird, and we know how hard winter (and especially the holiday season) can be for people like us—cold dim days, noisy crowds everywhere, flashing lights, extra-busy retail jobs, dealing with relatives who don’t get it. we’ve been there, and we want to help ease the passage into the new year with nice things. that’s why we’re making self-care surprise kits to start 2015 off on a good note!
if you are: neurodivergent and/or mentally ill, especially if you’re those things and also trans and/or non-binary, reblog this post to enter our giveaway! (if you simply want to boost this post for your followers to see, please tag accordingly so we know.) be aware that if you win, you will need to give us a mailing address, so if it’s not okay to send a parcel to where you live/get your mail, we’d be happy to send it to a friend who can receive it for you!
self-care kits will include some or even all of the following:
- a LUSH gift card
- a bath & body works gift card
- a handmade beaded bracelet with an uplifting message
- a soft little plush friend you can keep in your pocket
- an expertly-crafted chain maille stim/fidget toy
- unscented candles (we know sometimes scents can be overwhelming)
- happy drawings that you can look at when you feel down
- LUSH products such as lotion, bath bombs, soaps, etc
- stickers
- cute bandaids
- a link to a little song written especially for the winners
- other surprises!
giveaway ends january 1, 2015, when we will select four winners at random out of those who have reblogged this post.
even when you feel alone, there are people out there who understand what you’re going through. your experiences are valid, your needs are important, you are believed, and you matter. ♥
(obligatory disclaimer: we are not associated with or endorsed by tumblr or any company in any official capacity, this is just giving presents to people we haven’t yet met. if you are under the legal age of majority where you live, please consult a guardian before giving out your personal information.)
It’s a complicated question to answer, Anon, in part because there’s not “what helped me” so much as “what helps me” — clinical depression, the kind not caused by situation or circumstance (but potentially triggered by it) is not something you cure. Which I don’t think you were implying, but I want to be clear that I didn’t have depression and fix it — I do have it, it’s a chronic condition, and what I have instead of therapy or medication are coping mechanisms. And if you can’t tell when I’m in a depressive episode, well, that’s because of those coping mechanisms.
Second caveat: if therapy helps, or if medication helps, use them. My personal distaste for therapy is not a disbelief in its ability to help people, just a disbelief in its ability to help me, derived from personal experience. The fact that I don’t go to therapy or take medication is more to do with my ability to manage without, because of the relative non-severity of my condition. They are not the optimum weapons for my personal battle. They may be the best for yours.
One of the major signs is my unwillingness to engage with new narratives or ones in which I have an emotional investment — ie, I won’t go to see new movies even if I was really excited about them, BECAUSE I was really excited about them, and I won’t watch new TV shows or even new episodes of shows I like. The emotional impact (even when it’s a good emotion) is too overwhelming, and I know that when I’ve reached a point where I can’t cope with my own emotions, I’m probably going to have a rough few weeks ahead.
I do this. I didn’t know anyone else did. Well, I guess I thought someone must, but I’ve never actually known someone who does it. I know it’s linked to my level of cope, but I didn’t know how anchored it was to my depression/anxiety and how much it was tied to my autism. It’s sort of in that muddly, murky intersectional space, I think.
knitting in the dark 