What personal battle are you currently fighting?

[Anonymous]

I was laid off from my job mid-September. I'm a 54-year-old woman with no health insurance. I haven't been to a medical doctor since before COVID. I had to get a replacement used car this summer. I am all alone where I live and work. My sister hasn't spoken to me in over 10 years. I am getting interview for jobs. I am working part time. But the challenging part, is my part time job pays very well. I have to "motivate" other people to fulfill their best potential. I can't really openly be honest about my own struggles right now. Of course, my professional network knows I was laid off.

I am hurt about the layoff because I took a 30% pay cut to join this particular company. I feel they betrayed me. If only they would have told me, and with a few phone calls, they could have helped place me somewhere else. It feels like they wanted to see me suffer.

[Anonymous]

Terminally ill spouse and an autistic child. The stresses of caretaking are more than I ever imagined. I also work full time. There are some days where I don't know how much more I can take. Driving to everyone's appointments, school drop offs and pick ups, and taking care of home is exhausting. In all of this, I'm grieving my spouse's condition. The person I married is suddenly very frail and the new, huge changes in our relationship (physically, emotionally) were sudden. If I allow myself to understand and think about how our relationship will never be the same and is marching toward the end, it crushes me. So I can't think about it. But, I know I have to and I know I have to prepare my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Terminally ill spouse and an autistic child. The stresses of caretaking are more than I ever imagined. I also work full time. There are some days where I don't know how much more I can take. Driving to everyone's appointments, school drop offs and pick ups, and taking care of home is exhausting. In all of this, I'm grieving my spouse's condition. The person I married is suddenly very frail and the new, huge changes in our relationship (physically, emotionally) were sudden. If I allow myself to understand and think about how our relationship will never be the same and is marching toward the end, it crushes me. So I can't think about it. But, I know I have to and I know I have to prepare my kids.

I am so sorry. I wish I could give you a hug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had miracle identical twins after 3 losses and was so, so happy. I felt like I was living my dream. Then the delays started to manifest and they just stopped progressing in their development, and they were diagnosed w profound autism. I am crushed.

Welcome to Holland
https://www.emilyperlkingsley.com/welcome-to-holland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:37F and I think I'm too skinny (5'3", 108 lbs), but the compliments keep rolling in. I've never been this thin in my whole adult life. You can see the outline of my breastbone. Men irl hit on me more than they ever have before. The positive reinforcement is intoxicating. My orthostatic hypotension is so bad that my whole field of vision goes black for 7-10 seconds nearly every time I stand up, which is very annoying. I should try to gain some weight, but I'll miss the compliments.

Get your thyroid checked. You may be hyperthyroid.

[Anonymous]

I'm figuring out aging with Cerebral Palsy. I'm exhausted all the time. Blood work doesn't indicate any issues there, BTW. It's the CP.

I need to exercise to maintain the strength and mobility I have now. I also need to lose weight. It's hard to do enough exercise to be beneficial without overdoing it.

Trying to figure it out is frustrating.

[Anonymous]

I wasn’t going to post this because it’s so trivial and stupid and privileged next to all the very hard battles others are going through, but I need to say it somewhere and this thread is long enough that others aren’t paying attention anymore probably.

Really struggling with the private school application process. Massive stress over dc school play session and our chances and it feels like it is taking over my life. I’ve put so much time and thought into this and realizing it could all come to complete rejection is really hard. And its making me see dc differently too, which is the worst part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents had favorites growing up and pitted the siblings against each other. We're now in our late 30s and 40s and it's become clear that none of have functioning relationships. It's all coming to a head this holiday season with the parts of the family no longer speaking with each other.

I don't think there's any way we'll ever really be a family again. The favored siblings are narcissistic. The disfavored siblings are angry and hurt, cutting themselves off from the family. My parents continue to escalate and play favorites. Apparently the new boundaries by the hurt siblings have my mom saying she wants to die, but it's unclear if she's really suicidal or if it's more manipulation.

It's so hard to decide to walk away from the mess and give up on having a family (and grandparents for your kids) or to keep engaging with the endless drama, bullying, favortism, and hurt feelings. Partial boundaries haven't worked.

Omg. This could be about my family, with my grandparents’ and parents’ generation. Just wanted to say I can relate a little bit. Sending you good vibes. This stuff is such a mind warp.

[Anonymous]

Okay mine is really minor but here goes… I can’t deal with the fact that my dad is, well, not smart. He always had a reputation of an intelligent person, intellectual almost, he would introduce us to all sorts of knowledge as kids. I was disappointed in him as a person when I was 18 (long story) and only had very superficial relationship with him until about 2 years ago. Now I am starting to realize that he is prone to all sorts of conspiracy theories and is a fan of classic Marxism (which I recognize as an outstanding theory but I think it has little relevance in this day and age, at least in the form he espouses it).
He seems to live in his bubble and he doesn’t really want to read or watch anything else, and if he does, he usually dismisses it.

[Anonymous]

Lost my dear husband to a rare cancer. I hate life without him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I visited Florida for the first time last week and felt deeply unhappy and lonely there. I'm an immigrant from Europe and always felt fine in DC and other states I've visited, but FL was inexplicably depressive.

I would check your diagnoses for depression. I am also from Europe and have been to different parts of Florida several times. There are a lot of European immigrants in Florida.

[Anonymous]

My kids hate me. I try to keep busy around the clock so I won’t cry as much. My heart is broken and I feel like my life has no meaning. I wish I could get a second chance at parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids hate me. I try to keep busy around the clock so I won’t cry as much. My heart is broken and I feel like my life has no meaning. I wish I could get a second chance at parenting.

What would you have done differently if you got a second chance at parenting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids hate me. I try to keep busy around the clock so I won’t cry as much. My heart is broken and I feel like my life has no meaning. I wish I could get a second chance at parenting.

What would you have done differently if you got a second chance at parenting?

Hard for me to answer that question. I think that my parenting mistakes were related to my poor choices including choosing their father as a mate. I was not well-prepared for raising a family and had zero awareness of this. I always thought that I prioritized my children and their needs but I realize now that I failed at this in many ways. I am sure that this is how they see things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25 year marriage is millimeters from falling over the rail.
Expenses are skyrocketing and income has never been lower.
Assets are not selling.
There’s a pressure in my chest that will occasionally radiate into my left arm.
I have a molar that needs to come out and I can’t afford to do so.

PLEASE find a way to get your tooth taken care of. I don’t mean to scare you, but something similar happened to a friend. He got an infection from a bad tooth— it turned sepsis and he died (extremely suddenly) at the age of 26. Again, I don’t mean to scare you, but it can turn dangerous really fast. Best of luck.

Thank you, tooth was removed on Friday and I feel so much better. I misunderstood the dentist, extraction is $500 but the $8000 implant can be done at any point in the future.