… Am I Special?

Numerous times through my life I get to this point of wondering, in a certain situations, plus I feel a panic within because I don’t feel special.  Those negative thoughts emerge of not feeling loved, etc.

Whether we are young or old, we all want to feel special and should make it a point of making others feel special.

fa8e3947-a071-4e73-a7f3-3c588c3d7ea9-495-00000017993225c5Knowing this is a childhood issue that seems to be on the verge of healing within me but still it just stops in a panic, as tears always begin rolling down my face.  I cannot get past this point.

Something caused this many, many years ago and here I am and it still stops me in my tracks.  What made me feel so bad back then?

All a little girl wants is to feel special and loved.  Apparently, at some point that died within me.  Existence became the norm.  I understand how to exist but love, there I am hesitant and question its validity.

The past few days, I have been reading a book, “Think This Not That” by Rita A. Schultz, LPC.   My counselor talked many times about the neurons that can be rewired within our brain so this was a book that I knew would be relevant and carry on her information.

I totally recommend this book.  Today though, I hit a section called Breaking Free.  This chapter dealt with shame, the meaning, what it is, how it affects us, etc.  At the Breaking Free section within the chapter on shame, it brought back a remembrance and I just broke.  Big, hot tears flowed.  I had to put the book down to take care of me and my emotional turmoil within. As I write this, the tears well up again and fall.

Shame causes much pain and heartache, not even knowing it.   I really was lost and unsure what shame was when I started with my counselor.  A wise woman, as my counselor, helped me to see so many things clearer and that of shame.  How did I get so old and not realize all those years, I have been dealing with shame-based lies and the torment is presents?  Thank God I had her in my life to help me.

Something happened but to pinpoint it today, is a mystery.   I do know the Lord is healing me and this is no mistake I am reading this book, too. Just a little deeper into the mire of shame that has been heaped upon my head as a child and carried through adulthood.

When the Breaking Free section I read, I remembered when my counselor and I talked last, before her leave of absence, she said to me and I wrote about it earlier, “I care for you and I love you.”54775180-765f-4786-b227-cee1e0ac83eb-495-0000001666283ad2

In my mind and like I have questioned others when they  have said such to me or similar and that is, “but… did you tell the others (clients, people, etc.) the same?   Knowing, if so, I can dismiss the heartfelt words as I am not special. Too good to be true!

Just that thought of questioning their care and love for me and the possibility it said or expressed to another/others, my heart sinks within.  I truly hate when that occurs within me, it’s like all hope is gone.

Please love me, make me feel like I am special to you.

Oh my heart wants to believe and know without a doubt that I am special, cared for and loved.

I do and I don’t and repeat, at times.

Funny, this book mentioned is basically about turning the thoughts around, as I was being taught and now reinforced.  Like, I am doubting of being special and loved.   To turn it around and rewire my brain, I must believe and tell myself that I know she (counselor, in this instance) does in fact care for me, how could she not love me and I know I am special to her.  This brings peace to my heart and soul. 7A858015-0E7E-434D-9386-A279EF302AFB

I like that and want to stay here.  Hoping that rewiring works!   So many times we have discussed such in counseling.  I do know she cares.  Seriously, how could she not love me after four years of sessions weekly or more.  I am special to her, as she is to me.

Knowing full well, she has to maintain her role as my counselor still while on leave.  There’s a boundary that must be maintained although I so miss her and our time talking.

Not just her, there is one that I also remembered today in the same situation.  Jan is a well-known figure in our area and she was like a mother figure to me, especially after my mother passed.  If it had not been for her, her hugs and all, my grief and dealing with other things in my life, my marriage dying also, I cannot imagine what I would have done.  Her care and love proved itself to me during those dark days of my life.

0E8E6586-CCB7-4F5E-9E2E-6CFDF560210EI do believe the Lord places people in our lives at the right time to get us through a path we are walking.  As for the counselor, I was not ready for that to end.  I felt abandoned.  Still dealing with that but to rewire my mind and know it was necessary of this leave for her, I know she still cares and probably wonders how I am doing.  I hope so, ant not forgotten.

With Jan, in her public role, she is thought of by so many and she loves everyone.  I had a hard time with that at certain points because I wanted to feel special to her.  How can she love them, she loves me.  The chaos that can bring in my mind was torment.  Again, somewhere in my childhood, this is left dangling and I was hurt.

Today, it is possible and I know that, to care for others.  It is just sorting this out.  Perhaps bringing me to the point of healing of a deep wound within.  I’m so open for that.

c7d7b775-af1a-45f4-aac1-4d4a08cac7c6-495-0000001cf5eb797bUnderstanding and seeing this pattern also, I have people that mean a lot to me, as I am well liked and I am very personable.  So I know it is possible.

It’s the WHY inside me that I need to feel special whether to my counselor or to Jan, just two as examples.  Why do I fall apart when I start questioning them?  Lord, show me!

Narrowing down, I want to know where the root is at and where and when it started and dig it out.  I desire healing of this hole in my heart and to be whole.

Most importantly, I know I AM SPECIAL TO GOD, that’s all that matters anyway. ❤️

bdbd6311-59d6-4fe3-b0d4-818df71008db-495-0000001cba0a8575

Counselor —— 2 —— Counselor

The title probably looks like one counselor talking to another counselor.

It’s that I am trying to make a decision to move onto another counselor.  I do not really want to but feel I need some assistance to get over the last one.    How crazy it is that I need one to get over the last one.  Will this be a vicious cycle?   Lord, I hope not.

Due to a medical leave of absence, my last one left her 3FC12DB4-D7D4-4C4B-9267-335FF35A7B37practice for a bit although leaving me with the impression maybe forever.  It ended way too quick.  Too many unanswered questions and left feeling abandoned.  I have no doubt that she knows that this would affect me but I also she needs to care for herself with whatever is wrong.  Perhaps I pushed her over the edge.  Yikes!  I certainly hope not.
Being in her position, it can take its toll on ones own emotional well being.  Knowing that the extensive training required, her own counseling, regulating self-care herself, she is only human.  I don’t think I could listen to heartache after heartache and not be affected.

With this change, many emotions are on the table along with the many tears that have fallen.  The lost child within me searches and feels so unstable at times.  I know it is happening but I freeze in despair. I had a moment yesterday that just about pulled me under.

So many times through the years, we discussed recognizing the symptoms of how my body feels and reacts and that my breathing almost stops.  I used to hate when she would ask me questions, of what I was feeling, where I felt it in my body, etc., and at times thank me for breathing.  Whew!
9AF10290-7E58-4414-86EB-F6CDC222AF91No doubt fear in her wondering if I would literally pass out and she would need to do CPR.  While this is funny, it is not.  This whole life of struggling with fear of being left or the loss felt, is at times tormenting.  I just never realized how much so.   It’s been an interesting ride.
C3E3F2FD-CBD2-4804-97B1-642D2994D738I had her write down on a post-it note just prior to her leave, not realizing of her leave, but wanting these questions in my possession at all times:
*Notice what I am telling myself (usually negative).
*What emotions am I having (usually fear).
*What are my bodily actions, in breathing and posture (usually slower breathing as I am slumping down, crossing arms as in closing in).
*What are my bodily sensations (usually tightness in my throat, tense shoulders, I freeze in fear).
I do all that.  Always did that and still but I recognize it more today, because of her and consistently asking me, of which now I am thankful and miss her aggravating me.
It’s necessary to change the pattern. Sometimes just taking a step in one direction or another will offset the freeze mode.  Yesterday, I froze in fear at the office of what am I going to do?  I recognized it and proceeded to work, I got through it.  Not long after, I realized I got through that panic, fear, freezing craziness.  Yay me!

 

The negative thought pattern,  necessary to change it around.  Just like the thoughts that I have had that I probably caused her to leave, knowing full well that I don’t have that power and it was not her choice but her own body and wisdom to step aside for self care.  That stops the negative thinking in that scenario but I have more that I struggle with.  The neurons within our brain are affected as we change the pattern. Trust me, I need new neurons.7A858015-0E7E-434D-9386-A279EF302AFB

It’s amazing how our body reacts to our emotions and fear will cause havoc.

 

Never having somebody in my life to fully understand me and explain all this, I missed out.  So for me to feel the attachment issue magnified and abandonment at this point, it is normal I believe.  She was a lifeline to me.

Day by day I am slowly grasping my wits about this relationship and the loss.  I will be forever grateful of her.

CF1365CD-C6EE-4C7C-897B-AA7950F28F9BGiving me her blessings to find another counselor, to continue my growth and healing was hard to hear and receive, like she was throwing me out to the wolves (again negative thought), but she is allowing me to not be stuck and return to the way I was when I first stepped into her office.

I was almost dead in all areas (emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.  Life just about destroyed me and I did not care for years until I knew deep down, I needed help or I would die.  The search was on with prayer, just as I am now but today better, but continuous help in my healing.

So counselor 2 counselor I will attempt.  I just hope that the Lord puts the right one in my pathway as this one.  I have to trust Him with that and be patient.

With this new counselor, if he/she starts with the questions of what emotion do you have, where do you feel this in your body and so on, I just might … smile.

I was truly blessed with my counselor.

Abandonment

The overwhelming panic that occurs within seems uncontrollable for minutes on end.   Finally, a calmness comes but at the moment, it feels as though my world is crumbling all around me.   I freeze in a state of panic.B0573495-F515-4206-9F85-C607EBDC63A8

Never realizing of all my life until a wise counselor brought this to my attention in the last few years.  The attachment issues for some, usually mother figures, which ends in loss.  Whether our paths no longer cross and the painful loss dwindles.  It comes in many forms but each one brings abandonment.   Yet again, I feel this deep within with the loss of my Counselor being on medical leave.

Really, will she return, I ask myself?  Will she even acknowledge me if and when she does?  Perhaps I caused this but knowing, I don’t have enough power to do that, to lose her whole practice with clients, so that eases my mind.  How can she do this to me? Knowing that is a selfish though but normal.  I do care for her well-being but, you left me.  These thoughts and fears roll over in my mind daily if not more, trying to cope in life.  If people only knew the craziness of it all within me, they would be shocked.   I have to be cool but I am not   Guess that is where my actress skills with my mask comes in handy.

3D37A3BF-4400-4343-8919-8F5A45C40770

So today, I pondered the ‘root’ of this abandonment within my life.  It is a childhood issue.  Most adult problems are childhood issues.   Now, I want to know when, where and why this developed within me.  What major loss caused me to deal with this pain throughout my life and still, over and over again.

This leave of absence of hers has put me in anxiety, like never before.   There are a lot of loose ends that are dangling, that causes me chaos.  Many times we discussed this dangling in our sessions with various topics.  Now, a BIG dangling area is before me with no hope.

0A79AC16-9E30-4FBF-8013-280372439DCBI have questions, I need her wise input, I need to discuss my feelings and emotions, I need to know that she understands where I am and can validate my feelings.  I need her!  All of this is left hanging in the balance while I sort through and remain numb and reaching out to hold on for dear life.   Help me!6CF60112-5953-4897-AB97-CD92508902A6

How can I not be angry at times?  At her, at God, at myself.  Here I go again but it feels a million times worse than the last time.  I’m older, I should be able to grasp and get my act together but at times I lose it.  It takes everything within me to hold it together.

Maybe I am at this point to get to the root of this problem. Maybe God displaced her to make me depend upon Him more.   I understand this but cannot help to feel anger even with that.   I learned a long time ago, that I can be angry with God and I can tell Him that.  I have.  It’s actually freeing.   He knows anyway.

The journey of healing is not easy but is worth it.   Oh Dear God, please open my eyes to see and understand where this root came from, to remove and to bring healing to my Spirit, Soul and Body.

If you have been following my blog, thank you.  While many of my writings are depressing, it is because it is.  This is a walk that is uncomfortable and brings vulnerability on my part to share.   Even so, it has helped me to write, tell my story and be heard even if in print.  Again, thank you.

One day maybe my counselor will read my blogs to see where I have been, where I am and one day where I will be.  I was blessed to have her in my life and I hope and pray for her daily.