Monday, April 23, 2012

Not so hopeless setback

Something about the people potentially coming freaked me out, I think.  My nightmares, which has somewhat subsided, came back in full force last night.  I kept dreaming that they were just walking into the apartment, not knowing that I was there, and catching me sleeping.  Worse, in my dream I knew I was sleeping and there was nothing I could do to wake myself up.  Sometimes I would "wake up" and throw on some stretch pants but then I would realized my dressing was still part of my dream and that they were still coming inside and I was still laying in bed.  No matter what I would do, I couldn't seem to wake myself up.  Finally, I would find myself gasping for air and actually come back to reality.  I'd fall back to sleep and it would happen all over again.  At a certain point, I couldn't tell when I was awake and when I was dreaming.  It was terrifying.

Needless to say, when I finally did wake up I felt like I had been through an emotional war.  I was crying and frustrated and terrified that they were going to come to the door.  I wanted to leave but I couldn't get a grip.  It was awful.  In the end, I called into work.  Luckily, my job is super understanding and supportive.  I spent today working on small projects and watched a movie.  Once 5pm came and I knew that they would not be showing up today, I felt such relief.   I threw on my headphones like I used to do when I was a teenager and later took a bath.  Dave was hanging out with friends and it was nice to have the apartment to myself for the evening.  At first, I had wished for him to be near me.  I always want him nearby when I'm emotionally fragile but as I started to regain my composure I found myself enjoying the time alone.

On the bright side, having a clean apartment is liberating.  I hate putting the work in and I try to pretend that the mess doesn't bother me but it totally does.  It's oppressive and makes me feel even more confused and unstable.  Now that there isn't junk everywhere I need to keep this way.  Is there more cleaning to do, yes but right now I want to maintain this.  It's amazing just how much it helped during my recent setback.  I felt out of balance, unstable, and totally fragile but I had hope.  I knew it was temporary.  I looked around the apartment and didn't feel like such a failure and feel so overwhelmed by the cluttered and emotional distance I still need to travel.   Today was rough and I really, really hope that the nightmares don't come back tonight.

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