lonliness, doormats and making friends

by SpiceItUp 15 Replies latest jw friends

  • wednesday
    wednesday

    I sincerely believe that if one has a lot of issues, a therapist should be sought. for years i used my friends as therapists. Well, i wore them out, and now they stay a safe distance. I was a real emotional burden and dumped on them b/c i desperately needed help and the WTS said not to go to therapists. Finally after i had exhausted my last friend-i had to find a therapist. there are just some things u do not need to burden your spouse or friends with. especially if u have serious issues, rape, incest, very disturbed family, or any thing else that is tramatic. No one can be everything to everybody, and trying ot be a friend to a very disturbed person, well it will wear u out. it even wears out the therapists, and they get paid! My friends did me a favor by setting some boundries . It hurt a lot a first, i felt they had betrayed me. But they had not. They forced me to see a therapist, and it has bee a Godsend.

    I think sometimes elders get into this stuff. Years ago, they would try and be your therapist, and tell u not to see one. they don't do that so much anymore, i heard.

    weds

  • nowisee
    nowisee

    there are some very insightful posts here.

    i don't have too much to add, but there are 2 books by dr. wayne dyer that were enormously helpful to me at one point -- his earlier books, "your erroneous zones", and "pulling your own strings". they were instrumental in getting me to stand up for myself and stop seeing myself as somehow inferior to others.

  • oldcrowwoman
    oldcrowwoman

    Thank you SpiceItUp. I appreciated what you had to say. I could probably say great many of us on this site. Have walked in the wilderness many times during our life time. I can speak for myself.

    And experienced the lonliness and isolation. Having come from a dysfunctional family. Enter a dysfunctional marriage and Got myself sucked into a dysfunctional org. I did'nt learn any better. Not having the tools to recognize abuses .The thought was everybody lived this way. Total mind bender!!!

    My reality was fairly narrow minded. And the dark place within myself was very painful feeling the isolation and the lonliness. Being that door mat and having lack of self esteem and self-worth.

    I am grateful for having been pushed out of the org. Feeling like I just got out of prison. There's the whole wide world and feeling like this little speck in the scheme of things. Getting myself off alcohol. Many times sitting in the bar, and saying to myself there has to be more to life than this sitting here drinking day after day.

    The gift in going into treatment and having many teachers helped me to walk through the wilderness. To see their is more to life.

    Huge part of my recovery was support from groups over the years. In helping me to deprogram from the org. It was 5 yrs after being out of the org. I could admit to myself and to say out loud that jw's are a cult. Boy denial works in wonderous ways. And we are giving only what we can handle.

    Learning ways to be in relationships and to figure out what I want in a relationship , What is healthy and what is'nt. Learning the difference. Trust is a huge issue for me. Trust is not a given but earned. Its a on going process.

    Today I can feel okay being alone. But when lonliness comes into play it usually has to do with some part of self that I am feeling uncomfortable. To search for that middle ground. I do know it is'nt about me being joined at the hip with someone . I can be with some one and still feel lonely. There's that empty hole in my gut. That needs filling.

    My life is a onion constantly revealing layers of that onion. Some layers are less painful than others.

    I am a introvert . As a introvert I push myself to be out there to test the waters. And takes me more energy to move out. I can say I am okay in being quiet and reserved. We all are individuals.

    I am grateful to be here and the forum opens many doors to recovery . For me its a matter being open. Take what I want and leave the rest that does'nt fit for me.

    Thank you. OCW

  • simplesally
    simplesally
    If your daughter is with you, holler "yoo hoo".

    TOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!

  • SpiceItUp
    SpiceItUp

    double post

  • SpiceItUp
    SpiceItUp

    Wow...thanks guys...I didnt expect quite the response much less all the great ideas and thoughts....

    My first part of really becoming my own person was when I started getting used to such a degree that it wasn't fun anymore. I took a step back and said hey wait a minute---Im not happy with things the way they are. It was time for a change and while it took me several years to fully appreciate who I am, it was well worth the struggle.

    To those that are currently on that journey I have a couple things to say.

    ---Whatever you do, don't give up. You may not be able to see the light but it is there.

    ----This is something that you will need to do yourself (for some a therapist may help but only as a guide- you will be doing all the hard work)

    ----realize that you are just as important as anyone else and you are the most important person to you. Yes even for parents...you have to be healthy yourself before you can raise a healthy child (or as a previous co-worker taught me---"put your own oxygen mask on first")

    ----push yourself.....realize that just because you may be an introvert/shy doesnt mean you can't be assertive when it calls for it

    ------believe in yourself

    And remember it much easier said than done but the rewards are great. ((((((everyone)))))

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