The Other Me
An ongoing serial about neurosis, beginning with anxiety that burgeoned through my teenage years, and grew into issues also with depression and OCD, amongst other things.
The Other Me
‘Shut In’ i. The only safe place was home. Home, I could control everything. There were no dangers. Nor pressures. There was always the worry when I went out that there’d be an issue, and I’d have to rush home. It was a tremendous burden to carry, and the weight of it filled me with expectation that something would happen, which it then did. At least at home if anything happened, I was already where I needed to be. At first, I had trouble going anywhere – even the mailbox. I’d feel flighty, and would want to rush back inside. Eventually, I got comfortable with that distance. Later, my cousins…
The Other Me
‘Hello, Panic, My Old Friend’ viii. As the weeks went on, I improved. I kept taking my medicine, kept getting acupuncture and kept drinking the acupuncturist’s brews. The pain in my head cleared gradually, the way a clogged head clears from a bad flu. Then I was up and about, doing things – no matter how small. Like shaving to maintain a goatee. Even something as simple as that made me feel as if I was taking care of myself, although I kept a goatee for the sake of having something I had to force myself to do to take care of myself. Soon, I rediscovered my enthusiasm. Of course,…