zombycat
Confident
Hey guys,
If you don't want to read the long post, no biggie. You're welcome to skip down to the questions at the end. Thanks in advance for any advice!
I'm pretty new here. I've got a traumatic past that I thought I was dealing with pretty well, moving on coping healthily and all that, but my mom was recently diagnosed with a disease that is going to kill her with in the next few years. It shook me to the core, and I've been watching all the progress I thought I'd made unravel over the last few months.
I saw a quote online somewhere that said something to the effect that anxiety is like being in a video game, hearing boss battle music and being stuck in fight mode whether an enemy ever appears or not. The quote had this cute, snappy way of saying it, but I think you get the idea. That has been me for months now, and it's freaking exhausting. I'm snappish, tired all the time and easily overwhelmed. I can't stand to be touched, even by people I like, and I have no motivation to do even the simplest things I usually enjoy. I had hoped that once the shock of my mom's illness wore off things would level off, but it's not. It's getting worse.
My boyfriend and I went out to dinner last night at a popular pizzeria in town. In hindsight, hitting the place up at 8pm the Friday night before St. Patrick's Day was probably not a good idea, but it's always those little things I don't think to think about that get me. The place was packed and beyond noisy,. Nothing bad happened, but we still ended up having to cut our dinner short and come home because I was so overwhelmed. I came home and bawled like a baby. Ugh. I always feel so embarrassed about it, even though I know that bottling it up doesn't help me in the long run.
Anyway, It's become increasingly obvious to me that I need to find myself a good therapist. It's been a long time since I was in therapy, and I can't say that I ever had a therapist that I really felt understood the whole picture of me. There was always a part of me fighting the help because I felt I needed to push back against incorrect assumptions about myself.
I find the thought of going back intimidating. I'm not afraid to do the work. Okay, who am I kidding? I'm terrified of it. It's hard and it hurts, but wellness is more important to me than my fear. I just don't want to bare myself to someone who doesn't have the skill or emotional IQ to handle the complex issues I need to explore to find the path back up out of this hole I've found myself in.
Sooo, my question to you guys are these:
If you don't want to read the long post, no biggie. You're welcome to skip down to the questions at the end. Thanks in advance for any advice!
I'm pretty new here. I've got a traumatic past that I thought I was dealing with pretty well, moving on coping healthily and all that, but my mom was recently diagnosed with a disease that is going to kill her with in the next few years. It shook me to the core, and I've been watching all the progress I thought I'd made unravel over the last few months.
I saw a quote online somewhere that said something to the effect that anxiety is like being in a video game, hearing boss battle music and being stuck in fight mode whether an enemy ever appears or not. The quote had this cute, snappy way of saying it, but I think you get the idea. That has been me for months now, and it's freaking exhausting. I'm snappish, tired all the time and easily overwhelmed. I can't stand to be touched, even by people I like, and I have no motivation to do even the simplest things I usually enjoy. I had hoped that once the shock of my mom's illness wore off things would level off, but it's not. It's getting worse.
My boyfriend and I went out to dinner last night at a popular pizzeria in town. In hindsight, hitting the place up at 8pm the Friday night before St. Patrick's Day was probably not a good idea, but it's always those little things I don't think to think about that get me. The place was packed and beyond noisy,. Nothing bad happened, but we still ended up having to cut our dinner short and come home because I was so overwhelmed. I came home and bawled like a baby. Ugh. I always feel so embarrassed about it, even though I know that bottling it up doesn't help me in the long run.
Anyway, It's become increasingly obvious to me that I need to find myself a good therapist. It's been a long time since I was in therapy, and I can't say that I ever had a therapist that I really felt understood the whole picture of me. There was always a part of me fighting the help because I felt I needed to push back against incorrect assumptions about myself.
I find the thought of going back intimidating. I'm not afraid to do the work. Okay, who am I kidding? I'm terrified of it. It's hard and it hurts, but wellness is more important to me than my fear. I just don't want to bare myself to someone who doesn't have the skill or emotional IQ to handle the complex issues I need to explore to find the path back up out of this hole I've found myself in.
Sooo, my question to you guys are these:
How did you go about selecting your therapist?
What are questions you wish you'd asked your therapist before you started seeing them?
Do you have and tips or tricks you use to see if a therapist is a good fit for you?
What are things you've learned to recognize as a sign your therapist is not the right one for you?
Any other nuggets of wisdom for me?
What are questions you wish you'd asked your therapist before you started seeing them?
Do you have and tips or tricks you use to see if a therapist is a good fit for you?
What are things you've learned to recognize as a sign your therapist is not the right one for you?
Any other nuggets of wisdom for me?