social spoons gone, what next?
30 Sep 2013 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneI've had a slightly stressful time the last few weeks and in general, my brain needs additional time off - ie time to hide from all interaction with people in meatspace - after that.
As always happens when I'm socially overstimulated, my ability to Can Do Other People has vanished, and I now turn on a dime from normal me to being so irritated and/or angry about other people (real examples from today: pondering the existence of capitalism from a class discussion on the EU; two classmates whispering & giggling nearby when I was trying to do verb agreement worksheets; thinking about how two old people on the bus were probably political conservatives; reading an article about Rwandan feminist politicians) that I enter the Thinking About How Inconceivably Crappy Humanity Is spiral. This afternoon I laid down on the sofa and cried because I want to not have to see any other people face-to-face... well, right now, I want to see them approximately never, maybe after two weeks or so, but I know that in practice this feeling usually wears off if I'm allowed to hibernate for four or five days.
Anyway... COPING STRATEGIES: does anyone have any? I mean, when you ARE in public. Obviously, I can take mental health days and I will do that if I actually get to the point of nervous breakdown, but I'd rather not because this course moves fast and it would be possible to get significantly behind.
- Two weeks ago I had a unit test, and I had to spend most of the weekend writing a couple of essays and doing assignments that had piled up
- The following week I had go out of town from Wednesday through Friday evenings, on a class trip, so I was never alone, and my listening comprehension and speaking skills were called on a lot, plus I got zero alone time while there
- Last weekend was tragically only 2 days long and in my recent stress I've gotten behind on dishes. I spent the weekend feeling guilty about that, but did not do them, mainly because my feet hurt and I didn't want to stand beside the sink. Lame, I know, but in a low-spoon situation 'standing on sore feet' is just like AIEEE
As always happens when I'm socially overstimulated, my ability to Can Do Other People has vanished, and I now turn on a dime from normal me to being so irritated and/or angry about other people (real examples from today: pondering the existence of capitalism from a class discussion on the EU; two classmates whispering & giggling nearby when I was trying to do verb agreement worksheets; thinking about how two old people on the bus were probably political conservatives; reading an article about Rwandan feminist politicians) that I enter the Thinking About How Inconceivably Crappy Humanity Is spiral. This afternoon I laid down on the sofa and cried because I want to not have to see any other people face-to-face... well, right now, I want to see them approximately never, maybe after two weeks or so, but I know that in practice this feeling usually wears off if I'm allowed to hibernate for four or five days.
Anyway... COPING STRATEGIES: does anyone have any? I mean, when you ARE in public. Obviously, I can take mental health days and I will do that if I actually get to the point of nervous breakdown, but I'd rather not because this course moves fast and it would be possible to get significantly behind.
