Today at therapy was really hard. I was sitting here crying, and generally being miserable, when I felt a nudge at my knee. I looked down to see that Zeus, my service dog, was doing his job… and brought me a potato.
it is very hard to cry with a gift of potato.
Remember this? I’m having a rough time right now. Zeus has a solution.
That would be an empty pill bottle, the *correct* pill bottle, a bottle of embossing powder, and two, TWO potatoes.
Anxiety attacks can take different forms, such as:
Unpredictable bouts of rage or irritability
Nit-pickiness (obsessive behavior, which may be a part of OCD), and even a hypersensitivity to disarray, chaos, or any sort of change
Fast-talking, stuttering, stumbling over words
Not talking at all
Sitting rigid, staring into space, almost seeming “zoned out”
Understanding the way our or other’s anxiety works can help to decrease the stigma and help to calm a person faster and get them out of that state. These are just a few, but it gives an idea of the range in which attacks can come.
I’ll never be able to live my life because I can’t perform basic tasks. It’s as simple as that. Why do I keep going?
You mean you’ll never live independently. But no-one does. Human life is a web of dependence, obligation and care. You’ll be there for others, others will be there for you.
The tasks that you call “basic” because other people seem to do them so easily, well, some people struggle with those. It’s not just you. Needing help with them doesn’t make you lesser, it just means you need support that makes sense to you. Which is what everyone needs.
Some people are lucky, they won the social lottery and get what they need without asking. It looks like they don’t need support but the reality is that they already have it. Some have to ask, demand, stamp their feet. Some don’t get it at all. They are shamed for “needing” but the reality is that the shame belongs to the society that can’t support all its members.
You have value, and you have unique value. There are things you do that you take for granted, either because you find them effortless or because they are so meaningful to you that you do them as a matter of course. People around you look on in wonder and you don’t even notice.
Why do you keep going? Sometimes, maybe even just once in your life, you’ll answer that question for someone else. And maybe then you’ll have your answer too.
Kimchi and Justice 