Stigma

I've written a few blogs in the last week that haven't felt quite right to post. But I think this one will do the trick. Something I've been thinking about the last few days is stigma. I absolutely hate stigma! I've had a number of friends over the years not want to get a diagnosis because of the stigma attached to said diagnosis. That irks me, because I also know there can be great healing from receiving a diagnosis. It can mean that someone knows better how to help you, it can bring you better understanding of yourself. To be clear, it doesn't irk me that these friends don't want to receive a diagnosis--it irks me that our society has created and encouraged the stigma attached to those diagnosese that makes them uncomfortable! I've never really understood it most of my life though... I suppose I've never received a diagnosis with much stigma attached to it. But I also suppose that's partially why I don't openly share all the details of my life either. Because there is stigma attached to much of who I am, or what I struggle with, and it won't help me to know that someone judges me for it.

This weekend, my therapist recommended that I begin attending an addiction recovery group, and gave me an informal diagnosis of sorts. Receiving this suggestion and diagnosis has suddenly made me very well aware of how my friends have felt wanting to avoid stigma. It's something I am not likely to often share which makes me a tad sad because at the same time it has provided me with the ability to analyze myself in a new way and make me feel closer to healing. And the only reason I feel comfortable sharing this information here, is because I am fully aware of the fact that the only people who read this blog, besides when I post things to Facebook, are people who love me, whom I trust...not that it doesn't still make me feel vulnerable but sometimes that's okay.

Even when my therapist first began to suggest the group, I knew it might be helpful, but at the same time, didn't want to go for fear of the assumptions people would make upon learning or witnessing my attendance to such a meeting. I know full well that substance abuse and pornography are considered two of the most obvious reasons someone might go, which, for me, are not the reason why I'm going. For me, it's more... a way of thinking that I am clinging to, and the atonement is the best way for me to let go... and the LDS addiction recovery program focuses a lot on the atonement. So, it will help provide me with some structure with which to study the atonement, let go of things, and return Christ to his proper position in my life. I've been feeling like I needed to study the atonement but didn't know where to begin, so this suggestion felt like an answer to a silent prayer. Utilizing the atonement to get closer to Christ feels like the best way to feel understood. People have always told me that Christ has experienced all, and is therefore the only one who can truly understand how we feel. Which I've always understood, but never really felt able to utilize. So, that is the hope in attending ARP. And, in attending ARP, I hope to be able to let go of certain things that cause me to hate myself.

Of course, there's always more to the story... but anyway... I've been grateful for the support from people who love me. I know that people who love you are capable of letting go of stigma in order to support those they love. And that, is a blessing indeed.

To Text or Pray--That is the Question!

Sorry to blog twice in one day but things have happened, conversations had and my mind is on a new track.. A while ago I was sitting in a Relief Society meeting at church when someone referenced a quote from some talk along the lines of "are you as quick to pray as you are to text" At the time, it struck me but in a different way. At the time we were talking more along the lines of children driving you crazy, and choosing to text your spouse to whine instead of choosing to pray to your Heavenly Father for comfort or aid. Which, was good for me to hear, but it's also advice I can apply in a different way in my life..

I have always appreciated having close friends with whom I can have deep, personal conversations with. However, over the years, I have felt like these conversations have become increasingly frequent even though I don't necessarily feel like they are even being all that beneficial either for me or for those I'm having the conversation with. Someone asked me today if I was having these conversations to vent, or to solve problems... the occasional vent is fine, but as far as solving problems go, I needed to evaluate whether said problems would better solved by my therapist rather than with a friend. When I started going to therapy, I started to wonder if really I've just been having these conversations because some part of me knew I had stuff that was still unresolved and was seeking to solve it. Even though rationally speaking it's not like I would ever have expected any of my friends to say something magical to fix whatever in me was messed up by my childhood. Maybe I was hoping they would though... although sometimes I think I was also hoping that talking about it more would increase my chance in finding people with similar backgrounds... with the idea that if I helped enough other people work through their crap, maybe I'd feel better or work through my own as well... or something... I dunno. Or just make it more worth it.

But now that I've started being able to have these kinds of deep conversations with a therapist, and had some success in changing my mindset... I also feel a little bit stuck on where to draw the line... what do friends talk about, versus what should I just keep to my prayers, my journal, my therapist. And, of course, I do need to be better at opening up and allowing myself to be more vulnerable with my spouse as well. I really just don't know. I do think the question of whether its a need to vent, versus a need to fix things is an important perspective to start with... but still... I just dont want to feel like I'm overutilizing a friend for something a therapist is better suited for anyway. But I recognize that it is still important to open up to your friends and share the bad with the good. Like I said... where to draw the line is the probelm.

Where I have struggled with prayer for so long, I am left with the reminder "are you as quick to pray as you are to text" and I have to evaluate my ability to rely more on the Lord rather than those around me. And sometimes, I just need to be able to work through my feelings and feel like I'm expressing them. Sometimes a blog fits the bill, sometimes a journal fits it better. Sometimes I think a journal is a bit like a written prayer. The Lord can be my audience because no one else is reading it but me and him or something. And I like that. I can focus my thoughts so much better in text than I can out loud in a vocal prayer.  And because I'm having to take the time to write it out, I think it's also easier for me to take the time and feel His responses. Athough, vocal prayer is still an important medium. Sometimes a person is what fits the need of the hour... it depends. Sometimes I just want someone to understand. And I feel like its more meaningful if that comes from someone you love rather than a therapist... but at the same time, therapists can be a little more experienced in empathy, so you might have a higher success rate with them.. I dunno... and I've got to figure it out a little better so I don't need to feel like such a drain on the friendships I am blessed with. Of course, feel free to insert a statement about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the only ones who can truly understand what we are experiencing, thanks to the atonement. I do need to gain a stronger testimony of that concept since it really does have the most potential for comfort.

I feel like I have been stuck for so long... there has to be a reason attached to it that is my fault. I'm not trying hard enough. And I'm really not... but I also just don't feel ready... but I also don't want that to be a stable excuse to rely on either. I feel so lame saying it. Hate feeling like I'm just using excuses. Someone reminded me that I have had successes this year and I shouldn't feel like I've been without any progress. It's okay for progress to be slow, so long as  you have it. And that's true. And I have been really grateful for the progress I have made.. I've talked about that concept with my therapist as well. And I'm really grateful for that someone acknowledging that and helping me focus a little more on my successes rather than my failings in a way that didn't just feel like an attempt to sugar coat ;) It really should be okay that I haven't perfected certain areas of my life... because I can't do everything all at once, and that's okay. But I'm good enough at seeing my failings all on my own realistically. I just also know that I have had relapses and I don't like feeling that I'm taking a step backward after finally taking a step forward.

Anyway, I'm going to be going back to therapy again... so maybe I'll have better insights soon ;)

An Infinite potential

Sometimes I think we are provided with times in which we feel isolated.. when no one around us understands how we feel, as a refresher, a reminder that we don't know how the people around us feel, what they're going through.

I remember as a teenager watching my friends go through periods of really not liking themselves. Usually because of their personal appearance, but sometimes because of other factors as well. It always made me so sad because I wished they could see themselves how I saw them. They were beautiful people, great friends, and the kind of wholesome people that just make you want to be friends with them because you secretly wished you could be more like them. Yknow? I remember giving one friend in particular, some homework to try and build up her self esteem. Writing lists of things she liked about herself, looking herself in the mirror and telling herself that she was beautiful and wonderful! Sounds silly... but that was one of the first ways I was able to build my self esteem in middle school. I realized that the people who were the most beautiful, had confidence. It was their confidence that added to their attractiveness. So I decided, that I needed to love me, before somebody else could. Looked myself in the mirror in the mornings and told myself I was beautiful. No matter how much it made me cringe because I didn't believe it was true, or because of the awkwardness of the situation ;) Haha. I do feel like it helped though. Which is why I wanted to be able to pass it on so it could potentially help this friend of mine.

Every once in a while... it hits me... that I am repeating the same behavior that I have lamented seeing in my friends... It's so silly that it's so much harder for us to see the beauty and goodness in ourselves than it is to see in others. I imagine that it's frequently how God feels... he can see our potential, and desperately wants us to see ourselves as he sees us so that we can make those leaps and bounds! Sometimes I think it's the knowledge of that potential that makes me hate myself though. Because I already feel like I could be better... if my potential is greater than the distance I already know I have to go... it just feels a bit hopeless. Which, of course, is why we need the Lord's help. I've never been very good at letting people help me ;)

The decision not to hate myself has seemed harder lately. And there have been moments when I have failed, and moments when I have come closer to turning that ship all the way around.. I guess it just feels like there is more I have done/am doing wrong, than I am doing right. Positive words from others don't usually make me feel any better.. it feels like I have a bit more baggage than I'm worth. Too much that people don't know that I feel like would change their view of me if they did. Which I recognize is a bit unfair since I do have people who love me regardless of some of these faults. But hey, who said I had to be rational. It's hard for me to identify why these things are being harder to accept about myself than they have been in the past... Perhaps because they seem more relavent to my struggle than they used to be. Like I said, hard to say.

I know that at least part of the answer lies in learning to trust more in my Heavenly Father... It's just one of those things that we have to learn on our own, and sometimes it can be a rather long, up hill journey. I'm very grateful for all of my friends in this journey though... new and old. I have received far more support than I might have otherwise thought probable.

The Decision to Be Vulnerable

In my single days, I felt like dating was easy. Making friends was what was hard. If a guy didn't like me, well who cares, I could find a different one. Good friends seemed harder to come by. If a friend didn't like me then I had just lost out on what could have been the friend of a life time. Probably a bit backwards but that's how I felt.

Recently I have started trying to work on that mindset a little bit. I have realized that I really can't worry about whether or not people like me.. no matter who they are, if they don't like me for who I am then they would have been a waste of my time anyway. I hope this mindset helps ease my anxiety when sharing things about myself that put me in a vulnerable position.  Instead of waiting, like a victim waiting to learn how they'll react, I can focus on me. Or at least, that's the theory. It can help me rationalize through the anxiety but it's no cure. And most people aren't very good at being sensitive to minimizing other people's anxiety. Not that that can really be an expectation either.

Sometimes you just have to trust that your decision to make yourself vulnerable was a good one... and be willing to accept the consequences if it ends up being the opposite. Anxiety in this context at least.. seems to me like fear of/unwillingness to accept that potential negative consequence. But when something is out of our control, it's better emotionally speaking if we don't worry about it. And if we cannot trust we made the right decision, I suppose we have to hope it instead.

Communication

Communication is something I have spent a lot of time thinking about. I wish we all communicated better, more effectively, with more depth, honesty, detail and truth.. I have a friend who often prefaces her questions with "I hope this isn't too personal but..." and I wish I could truly instill the idea that I really and truly don't mind such personal questions. I love them. Honestly, I think it makes me feel loved when people care and feel close enough with me to ask them. A sort of.. love language if you will. I had a friendship once with whom I communicated better than I have ever experienced with anyone. We both felt free to ask any question no matter personal, and no matter how nitpicky. We asked eachother to clarify intentions and meanings of words and phrases used and asked for background thoughts and feelings that were happening during conversations or certain statements... that's just how our conversations went, all the time. Sometimes it was a bit difficult admitting to certain background thoughts or feelings occurring during a conversation but it forced a frequent exercise in trust and faith and we definitely felt very close because of that. And we had a rule to always be honest and to answer every question asked. And since this type of clarifying question was so frequent and expected, you were motivated to be explicit and thorough so as not to force further probative questions ;)  I loved that way of communicating. Most people don't have the patience or courage to communicate that way I think.. But I also think that there are a lot of people out there that wish desperately to be able to communicate that way... they just don't feel safe enough to do it. I think that's why I tend to overshare sometimes. Because I'm trying to show people that I feel safe talking with them so that they will feel safe talking with me. I love when people feel safe talking with me about personal things. I guess that makes me feel loved too. And it makes me feel like if the time comes, they'll let me in should they ever need help or a listening ear, which is something I love to do for people. And I love to know people, their history, the way they think, the anxieties they feel... it's a weird way to bond but it's effective ;) Communication is key ya'll. It's da bomb ;D

Guilt vs Shame

Something my therapist talked to me about is the differcence between guilt and shame. It was an important distinction I find helpful even though I still struggle discerning between the two... Essentially, guilt serves a purpose. It can lead us toward making righteous changes. Guilt comes from God in order to help us identify the areas in which we need to change. Whereas shame doesn't help us change. When we feel shame, we hide. We feel less than we are, and that doesn't come from God. I think part of what makes it hard is that we, or at least I, often feel both emotions. Which makes sense really... we do something wrong, the light of Christ in each of us helps us realize that sense of guilt, but Satan doesn't want us to change, so he sends shame as a way to try to get us to impede ourselves from progress and growth and healing.

For me... I think that I have done a decent job of trying to address things quickly when I have had that sense of guilt. When necessary I have confessed to my Bishop. But I don't seem to be so good at letting go of the shame. I leave myself convinced that perhaps I wasn't graphic enough in my details with the Bishop. Maybe I was mistakenly absolved because perhaps with a more detailed account, the result of those meetings would have been different. And the shame eats at me for years. Until I have finally gone to a Bishop again to report an old story when they have essentially said, geez, you've beat yourself up about this for a long time, you've clearly felt remorse, you're fine, let it go already. I guess its just hard for me to tell in those instances whether I'm still feeling guilt/shame because I just suck at forgiving myself, or whether there is still more I need to do to be forgiven.

I think I sort of talked about that issue with my therapist as well. Which is when she essentially told me that while I may believe in the atonement, I struggle having the faith that it applies to me the same way it applies to others. Which I can nod and shake my head at, of course ;) I'm not really sure how to change that though... (no, I'm not looking for advice. I'm not really in a place to be open to it). It does seem like a good place to start though when looking for a cure for shame. Because the atonement promises healing regardless of the source of pain. My biggest wish.. I think, is that I can figure it out at least well enough that I don't pass on this weakness to my children.. that I can teach them how to be humble without debasing themselves, and to know how to accept forgiveness and acceptance from both others and themselves.

Gratitude

I heard a quote the other day, not sure who was supposed to have said it but I appreciated it. "Gratitude is the parent of all other virtues."

 I don't know why I love that so much but I do. I do think gratitude is one of the best virtues, and the most therapeutic. For a long time, I was praying that I might regain an attitude of gratitude that I felt like I had lost. Gratitude is how I would describe the times in my life when I have been the most spiritual. I mean, that's the whole point right? Being grateful for everything Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have done for us? And truly feeling gratitude for something implies action on our part to express that gratitude.

What I have realized is that the one thing I truly feel grateful for is my husband. We've had some rough years. Or rather, mainly I've had some rough years and he's had to put up with me. And he's always put up with me. I wish I could truly describe the levels to which he has put up with me, but probably not something I can do as well as I would like. Although I'll give a few details.

Before we even got married, I explained to Michael that I can't budget. I can't keep track of every penny I spend and account for how I spent it. Thinking about money like that just gives me major anxiety. Even thinking about thinking about it gives me the heeby jeebies. I've always just regularly checked my bank account to make sure that I don't over spend. (And no, I don't want to hear any lectures or well intended suggestions/advice about this topic.) I know this isn't the best policy. And I'm not perfect, and I have room to grow in this area... especially because I tend to be a bit of a therapeutic shopper. It's always small things like chocolate/candy/pastries or cute crafty supplies for activities with kids, or books/toys/clothes for the kids... But I can tend to go overboard. It's a bit of a cycle I think because I buy something, then feel guilty/shame over spending money, and then I buy something else to provide therapy for the guilt of spending. If that makes sense. Anyway, Michael has always put up with this and has never hassled me, and it has been oh so much appreciated.

I appreciate that he has never made me feel bad about not being a great housewife. Really, I'm pretty good at making myself feel bad about it, so I wouldn't need the help anyway ;) But, he's never minded making the odd meal or cleaning the house, or doing laundry. And I've always been grateful that I've never had to feel like he loved me any less because of it. I like to think I have a plan to improve in this area, but time will tell I suppose.

Over the years I have struggled with my spirituality on varying levels at various times... and Michael seemed to intuitively know when to stop pushing. I was really grateful for that since from time to time it has been a sensitive subject. I'm starting to think that I might need more support in that area in order to start moving forward again, and I'm grateful to have him to seek that support.

Michael doesn't like to think about it, but when we were dating he would send me the CUTEST messages. Reasons why he loved me, things like that. Absolutely darling. Good thing I'm the first girl he dated, or some other girl might have snatched him! From time to time he still sends me this kind of thing via text, and its always very sweet.

He let me get a Christmas tree this year. I absolutely love our Christmas tree. Growing up we sometimes left our tree up until as late as June. We even started to collect decorations for other holidays like Valentine's. My mother says it's because she refused to take it down by herself, and nobody was willing to help. I can't speak for anyone else in my family, but personally, I just didn't want to help because I loved having it up. And I've always loved being able to talk about putting valentine's hearts on our Christmas tree! It's one of my favorite memories about my childhood. So, I'm grateful for my mother putting up with it and being such a good sport about it every year when we were younger. It always made me happy to have the tree as long as possible, and longer than most people think is possible ;)

Anyway, this is starting to feel a bit sappy. So I'll go ahead and stop. But I'm grateful that my husband gives me something to feel grateful for when gratitude can be a hard thing to find. He does his best to take care of me emotionally even though I've never been great at talking about my emotions with him. I've never had wine of course, but I believe what someone once told me, that marriage is like a fine wine, and gets better with age. We've got to work at it of course, but never the less, you get the idea. Love him! And love ya'll, for reading this far ;)
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