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A couple blocked the aisle in the grocery store, stopping their cart on a diagonal and chatting with each other about the price of a dozen eggs as if they were the only people in the world and there was no one else in the store. So small-town and selfish.

@Justmehere - it is a very difficult decision, one that should be made with the help of a therapist, in my opinion. Going through life without any family is extraordinarily difficult in ways it's impossible to fathom while you still have those ties. Having said that, I cut ties with my parents...

I don't share a lot up front. If someone else wants to share something about their personal life with me, I will listen as long as it's not vulgar or malicious. Sometimes people just need to talk or vent. If they ask about me and I don't care to share that information I sometimes say, "Oh, I...

I don't know what time it was where you are when you posted, zeropoint, but it was midnight here. Those kinds of feelings are always much worse at night for me, usually with insomnia.

I love Christmas. I don't do gifts/cards/sweets/money/Santa/parties/shopping/etc. I put up a tree and decorations and follow the precepts of my religion. I celebrate it as a quiet spiritual holiday.

I pray first thing in the morning, before I even get out of bed (back exercises + prayer), and right before sleep at night. I pray often during the day. I try to avoid the "magic genie" prayers (God, please let me make this next traffic late because I'm late, or God please let me win the...

I don't know if I can but I had a friend in college who was an incest survivor and a cancer survivor. She said she could see both in others (she recognized me as a fellow incest survivor before I had even shared it with her). She was a very intuitive person in general, I don't know if that had...

That's wonderful, shimmerz. I'm going to try that.

Police have helped me when I needed it, my interactions with them have been good. Yes, I feel safe around them.

Both of my parents kept up the appearance of faithfully practicing a religion but I can't even imagine the mental gymnastics they must have been performing to reconcile their actions and choices with the beliefs of that religion. While they looked like they were religious, I don't believe they...

International

For smaller triggers I usually need a little private, quiet time to process it. For larger ones, it can take months. During that time I just push through to get done whatever I need to, and spend the rest of the time letting my reaction run its course. That seems to work best for me, through...

I agree with Solara. For some, no. For others, yes. If you're young, Cherokee, you have a lot of time to work on things, give yourself that time.

Is she interested in talking to a therapist about it? She could get a referral by calling a nearby woman's shelter, or a women's center at a local college or university.

More insomnia, very tired.

That's impressive, congratulations!

I couldn't afford it, that's why I went to the charities. The restoration service picked up the clothes and gave me an estimate. I never saw my clothes again. It wasn't just that they were clothes. It was also that they were all I had left from the fire. I should have specified that I am a...

Hm, the charity circuit. I haven't had any success there. Let's start with the time we had a house fire. We lost everything except for a few clothes that were in the house and some stuff that had been stored outside in a shed which belonged to my roommate. Because the house had asbestos...

If you go can you take breaks now and then in some quiet room or office or maybe your car, away from the party and noise? Listen to some relaxing music, stretch, meditate, etc.

I always have a real tree and put up decorations and lights. I love Christmas music and try to fill the house with it all December. I also love the old holiday specials I watched as a kid (Charlie Brown, Frosty the Snowman [1969], Rudolph) so I make sure to record and watch those. Sometimes my...

A mother who makes the choice to stay with her kids' abuser already has problems of her own and those initial problems get magnified by the turmoil and conflict that results from the decision to stay. I saw it in my mother, too: slammed from side to side, protecting him vs. mothering the kids...

Anxious. Lots to do today and it's going to be hard. I keep putting it off.

Valve

Sometimes I read, stretch, pray, or do some research but for the most part insomnia renders me a low-energy zombie unable to do or process much.

I confronted my abusers. I never saw them again after that. Since I'm religious I believe that after they die they will pay for what they've done. They are both old now and as far as I know not in good health, so it's coming. I just leave that to God.