Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Text Message from Oblivion

When I received last night a text message from Alyssa asking if I had, "gotten over her" I was instantly struck with dread, dread at the thought that this message might prompt me to fall back into the deep depression out of which I am still slowly crawling. But also I felt a twinge of irony. "No" I though to myself, "I am not over her, not in the slightest." And so, I now begin again in the middle of summer. Though my first attempt to move failed miserably, I still believe that there is hope for me to find a new beginning. The new school year provides an excuse for a new beginning, but just as I have always known but never understood how to utilize, I must make an internal change before I can move on.
On my list of goals for the next year are excellent grades, new friendships, maintenance of old friendships and an achievement of a sustained peace-of-mind.
I just got off the phone with my therapist. Not surprisingly it was very therapeutic. She really helped me realize that I can achieve what I want if I just become more proactive. I am now more inspired to engage in and fight for things that I care about like my burning passion for music. I am beginning to realize that if I don't fight for what I believe in, right here, right now, I will never lead a fulfilled life.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Turning Angst into Art

It descended on me like the shadow of an afternoon cloud crawling over a pristine landscape.When anxiety strikes it is as if the world will shortly end, wrapped in a torrent of vellities and regret, a bitter and sad storm. But then it passes, swept away by its own impetus. And, for a while, the grey clouds part. The clouds have but gone on holiday, a brief sabbatical. Only to return in greater force on another cold, lonesome day.
And where do we stand on these black days? In our prime hour, what dark fate slouches behind?

This is the poetic attempt to capture the dread that I felt this afternoon in the restarant. Only after I had eaten and sat for a while did the pall begin to lift. I have always wanted to use this word, and in this instance I think it fits: Anyone who looked at me while I was in the midst of this attack would have seen the pallor of my face. I imagine that I was, as the expression goes, "white as a sheet." My main frustration, besides the obvious of these "attacks" happening, is that I seem to have little control against them. There are, however, certain precautions that I can take to prevent them, but, unfortunately, there are no guarantees. I am at the mercy of these attacks.
But, truly, I want to move beyond my petty anxiety. I want to live the life that I believe is possible if I can but move out from under this veil of self-doubt and repression.
Whenever it happens I feel as if I have to document it, in one form or another, such as here in this blog. But the action itself does not prevent it from happening again.
Somehow I believe that this is somehow related to Alyssa, or at least how I feel now that we are separeted. Emily suggested that I find a new religion. That woudl be nice. And it was nice to have someone on the same page as far as my own self-improvement is concerned. Because for so long it has seemed as if even my own mother was not alligned with my interests. Well, I know that she is, but for a long time it seemed as if her methods were ineffectual and outdated. And, I must admit, they still seem vaguely in that vein, but she has improved in her attention to the matter. I guess the difficulty is that I can't find a comfortable way to discuss this issue, these issues with anyone. This is my only method of dealing with it. And even though this does something for me, it is not a comprehensive solution. That I am still working on.
The worst part, as it seems, is that I don't feel as if I am any closer to a comprehensive solution. I don't even know which direction or what to do for that. I know that this expression is part of it. But I have no idea what else I have to do to solve this.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

So far DC is great. Emily is here and we have settled in to our normal routine, just as if we were at school again. It is comforting to have someone who fits into this routine; I was desperately in need of such a person. Today we will go into downtown DC to visit the National Portrait Gallery, several of the Smithsonian museums, and other related memorials before finishing the nigh with a viewing of what promises to be the most spectacular fireworks display--I mean we are in the capitol.