TW Gloomday

Hey @OliviaAsh,

I'd like to Welcome you to ReachOut and want to thank you for being so courageous by sharing what you're going through. I can hear that you're living with your boyfriend, 3 hours away from family and are not currently working, leaving you with nothing to do and feeling quite depressed. Being away from your family and not having anything to do would be really challenging so how you're feeling is completely understandable. I want to take a moment here to highlight your resilience and acknowledging that what you're experiencing will be temporary, and things will be okay. It can be difficult for young people sometimes to recognise that when everything feels heavy, it's often temporary and will get better, so you should be so proud of yourself!

It sounds like your relationship with your mum is complicated. I can hear that you've stopped talking to her and have realised that she manipulated and guilt tripped you, while also struggling with addiction. It must be really tough to reflect on your relationship with your mum and realise all of these things. Have you spoken to anyone like friends, family or a professional (GP or Mental health professional) about your mum and everything you're going through? Speaking to someone you trust about what you're going through can be helpful to seek advice and support. I encourage you to connect with Beyond Blue for additional support. They offer free and confidential phone and web counselling. You might also be interested in connecting with ReachOut's 1:1 Peer Chat service which is free and confidential for young people aged 16-25. 

I can also see that you're trying to heal from past trauma, learning more about audhd, navigating moving back home, and your relationship all at once. This must be really tough for you to manage given everything else that is going on for you. I am curious to know if you are accessing mental health care as you navigate so many challenges? It's also important to engage in self care when you're going through a hard time, so I am wondering what you have been doing during this time to take care of yourself? I'd like to also share some topics on Challenges and Coping, Mental Health Issues, and Mental Wellbeing. Each topic has a number of subtopics with numerous articles with advice, tips and stories from others that you might find really useful. 

I also want to let you know that an email has been sent to check in with you offline so please keep an eye out for that! I hope this is helpful and look forward to hearing back from you soon. 

Hey @OliviaAsh ,

I'm so sorry to hear how tough things have been for you lately. It sounds like you've got lots going on and it's all just snowballed to a place where it doesn't feel like you can cope anymore. I went through a bit of a patch like this a year or so ago, and I still remember vividly how disheartening, wearing and exhausting it all was. I really empathise with you here, especially with what you said about waking up and just crying before anything had even happened, I remember going through that too. I can hear how much hurt you're experiencing at the moment too, with things with your mum, but also now feeling like you have to censor your feelings. 

You mentioned that it's been pretty tough for you to keep up a routine lately, especially without work. In the past, i've found it to be really useful to even just try to implement a little bit of a routine - I think this can be really helpful with mood regulation. It doesn't have to be big, it could even just be making sure you 3 meals a day at certain times, or go for a walk in the morning.

For what it's worth, it sounds to me like you're trying really hard to keep ontop of everything, which is really admirable - putting effort into your relationship, taking care of yourself so you can heal from past trauma, and learning more about yourself and AuDHD too. I can hear how hopeless this all feels for you right now, which is totally fair, but please know that this, and these feelings are temporary, they won't last forever.

Please be gentle with yourself. I hope you're able to do some extra nice things for yourself, and show yourself a bit of extra care while things are so tough. Thinking of you and sending lots of love. Me and others are all here to listen if you want to chat a bit more 💗🌷.