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Member Neuropathy Journey Stories: What's Yours?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Nov 23 5:30pm | Replies (573)Comment receiving replies
@jesfactsmon & @lorirenee1 Hank your post is one of the more compassionate, instructive and supportive of any I've read in a long time. A Big Thank You for what you wrote and expressed. Aware for some time that I am one of those highly sensitive people (hsp) the descriptor "empath" was new to me until recently. I wish I'd understood more about this trait earlier in life. However, what you wrote is so important for those of us who take events more seriously and more deeply than ordinary bears. smiles
Especially your third paragraph describes so beautifully what the Mayo Connect forums mean to me. And there is truly something very liberating about the layer of anonymity that Connect provides that promotes more freedoms to express in ways I would never consider with anyone face-to-face. A few years ago when a member of another online group wrote me offline asking if I and another member in a diff. city might meet and get acquainted in person, I sorta' froze up and declined the invitation. The additional layer of personal privacy an online support group provides is a valued protection for me and allows me the advantages it seems to hold for you as well.
I am also learning to take breaks from the media and from specific others when I begin feeling the overload of just too much bombardment of news or find I'm becoming too invested in another's situation. Not an easy task for a "compulsive helper" but it can be done. Wish I'd started sooner. Now I practice more often my closest friend's mantra of "this too shall pass". She was right; it does.
Replies to "@jesfactsmon & @lorirenee1 Hank your post is one of the more compassionate, instructive and supportive of..."
@jimhd @jestfactsmon @fiesty76 @rrwinney @sunnyflower And all my fellow Neuropathy Warriors! I am loving that you are sharing this deep emotional stuff. Jim, you write with such eloquence!!! You are opening like a flower, and such a writer!!! I am so honored that you have shared more of the depression you have went through, as I know you much more now. I get crazy from superficial interactions with people, and realize, that I need the depth of Connect. And Fiesty, you are right! The support that Hank gives is over the top! Hands down, no comparison. Hank, to share how you have also struggled with depression and suicidal tendencies was brave of you! Of course, I just want to hug you forever. I know your life is so hard with your spouse being so sick, and I know that must take a tremendous toll on you. My husband is a distant man, and always has been. It is probably part of why I fantasize about seeing warm, open, people in person. My husband cares, but is not one to express emotions much, at all. So at times, I suffer from it. I really do not feel you change people. It is hard enough to even change yourself. I also believe that unconditional love is the only thing that lets me function in all my deeper relationships. There actually is a freedom in that. Just letting people BE, as they each have their burdens and stories. JIm, I get a lot like you, wondering if constant foot complaints are making people crazy here. I get guilty, as I am pretty pain free else where, except for odd sensations from electricity running through my legs, that borders on pain. Does it matter, how many places in your body feel pain, when only one place can ruin your life when so extreme? Rachel and Sunny, I know you have so many things going on everywhere, and often I think, what the Hell have I got to complain about? But the pain in my feet is so damn severe, that I find a cry very often, especially on days when Kratom is not an option. I know one thing. Shit happens. For sure. I am beginning to ramble, so I will go now. Love to you all, Lori Renee
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Hi @fiesty76 Yeah, I know, this "Connect thing" I am now involving myself in is pretty new and surprising to me in the way it allows us to share with each other as deeply (or shallowly) as we wish, without the usual "baggage" that seems to be present a lot of times in the usual modes of communication, i.e. "I know who you are along with all my preconceived notions about you, etc." or "I am assessing how you look today....hmmmm, interesting".) And the thing is, sure the other person MIGHT be thinking those things, but mostly it's a projection of our own insecurities.) Life is like one big psychology lesson isn't it? Best, Hank