I was 22, trying to shake a bulimic habit, taking an extra full load of engineering classes, was spending every Friday and Sunday on weekend riding a Greyhound bus for 2-3 hours, and spending the rest of the weekend with my dad at the hospital with my mom. By this time she had probably spent 20 weeks of the last 40 in ICU with a good 15 of them on the ventilator. (Which if anyone knows much about hospitals, that is pretty unusual) I handled the first 2 quarters okay but was really starting to feel the stress. I had transferred to a new school for only a quarter before my mom was diagnosed with the brain tumor and had her first operation. xH was my boyfriend at the time and really handled it about as well as he could given that he was in Law School and did not have much free time. I had lots of study buddies and acquaintances at school but had not developed close enough friends to disclose much to and did not tell my professors about this. Anyway... I was becoming more stressed and thought that counseling might be able to help. So I go in and start off with the story of my mom's brain tumor and hospital stays and the guy just drones on and on about something in his past. Honestly I was so devastated by his lack of interest in me and my mental health that I thought that his lack of interest in my story meant that it wasn't that big of deal and that I should just suck it up and move on. Which I did. All and all I am proud that I dealt with the bulimia on my own along with getting through engineering with a 3.4 GPA and still supporting my mom and dad along the way. My dad got a 1-800 number so I could call them from school. I called every day for almost two years. I knew my mom was getting better when one day she told me on the phone that "you do not need to call every day." What a relief from an extra stress that I did not even realize. My dad was on the phone too and we all laughed. So to cut this rambling off - this is an example of how decent coping skills can end up backfiring. I thought that I had learned that I could handle things on my own and that lousy therapists would be of no use. I was so shocked at our first MC session when the therapist let us both talk most of the session with only specific questions to us.
My meetings were canceled for the day so that's why I have all this extra time to wax on and on about myself.
OG_Lou Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread.
But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~Albert Camus
