Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Stage Fright


Worry, I swear, will put me into an early grave.

Apart from letting the dogs in and out and changing the litter boxes, I spend all of Labor Day weekend - all of it, every single minute - curled up on the love seat in retreat and listening to rather than actually watching tv. I think about all the things I could/should and have been planning to do for months but nothing seems worth the effort and I end up sleeping away hour after hour for three straight days. It seems dull and pointless to do anything else. A part of me know this is unhealthy but a larger part doesn't care.

Do you ever think about hurting yourself?” I remember the doctor asking just a few days ago.

Not in the way you mean,” I'd said maybe a little too quickly, “I lean toward it but I have two dogs and four cats to think of. Although I have come to think that there are worse things than dying.”

Although I was trying to be honest, It wasn't quite true. The fact is that I do think about suicide more often than I want to admit but generally as something down the road. For the present time, the love of and responsibility to my animals keeps me grounded. They matter more to me than anything is this life and leaving them is unthinkable.

Three weeks of anti depressants later, the darkest thoughts and worries have eased somewhat but the anxiety remains, coming and going randomly and often leaving me with a fluttery, stage fright kind of feeling - as if I've done something very wrong and am just waiting to get caught. I feel irrationally scared and nervous but I can't seem to pin it down to anything specific, it's everything and nothing at the same time.

It's hard to fight things in the dark.












Friday, September 07, 2018

Talk To Each Other


It was supposed to be simple.

Just be here at 8:30” the x ray tech told me, “We'll have you in and out in ten minutes, you don't even need to sign in at the front desk, just at the lab.”

More fool that I am, I believed her.

I obediently signed in at the lab.

They sent me to the front desk.

The front desk sent me back to the lab.

The lab sent me back to the front desk.

The front desk sent me back to the lab.

No,” I told the front desk, “I'm done playing ping pong. Either you straighten this out or I'm leaving and you can explain to the doctor why there's no chest x ray. Don't you people talk to each other?”

She bristled. And glared at me.

I bristled back. And stood my ground.


The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw