I have struggled with CPTSD my whole life. I just didn't have a name for it, and I used to be able to control it, keep it at bay. It's been in the last year that it's been relentless. Well there was also a period of time after I had left home, had spent 6 months in an abusive relationship and had escaped it that I was totally out of control. I think if I had seen a therapist then, I would have been diagnosed BPD. Instead of a therapist, I saw a recruiter, kept it together enough to come off as totally mentally stable, and joined the Air Force.
Anyway -- I don't really know who I am. I was created, molded by witnessing and experiencing abuse on a daily basis my entire childhood and teen years, and a knack for getting myself into abusive situations in adulthood.
For me, a short term goal would be to return to "my former norm". For a long term goal, to find out who I really am, to create "my new norm". But first I need to convince myself that I'm worth it for one. Also, I'm not sure I can do this while my daughter is still struggling. I feel like I should be concentrating on her.
So - yeah, I struggle with that too.
Maybe, instead of one goal, to reach a place that you aren't sure of, you set a goal that you can define easier, then once you reach it, set the next goal, with the final goal, to get your life back?
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"Do you know what’s really scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it off your mind. But you never can. It can’t go away, you see. And… and it follows you around like a ghost."
~ A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) (2003)
"I feel like an outsider, and I always will feel like one. I’ve always felt that I wasn’t a member of any particular group."
~ Anne Rice
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