Recent posts
#21
Ideas/Tools for Recovery / Re: One Act of Kindness to Mys...
Last post by Blueberry - February 17, 2026, 06:58:44 PMQuote from: Blueberry on February 19, 2023, 10:37:43 PMI started this thread in Lent 2020. Normally in the Christian religion you fast from something during Lent and I was posting about how triggering it is for me to be restricting myself. And then Notalone came up with a suggestion for me: https://cptsd.org/forum/index.php?topic=12143.msg98105#msg98105
So this thread is based on that.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. One of the Churches in my country has as their motto this year "Fasting without Severity, without Harshness" partly to do with the world turning harsher, but also partly the idea that people can go overboard on their own fasting, like being so strict with themselves they don't actually get closer to whatever spirituality they believe in. I think that fits well with One Act of Kindness To Myself Today.
Feel free to start with an act of kindness today.
#22
Symptoms - Other / Re: Loneliness in CPTSD Is Not...
Last post by Blueberry - February 17, 2026, 06:45:51 PMThank you for this post and the work that went into thinking it through and writing it out.
Yesterday I went through the list and 6.5 types resonated. Bit of a flashback yesterday, I think. I'm marking this basically, to come back to because it was too much for me absorb all in one go (that is not a criticism!).
Yesterday I went through the list and 6.5 types resonated. Bit of a flashback yesterday, I think. I'm marking this basically, to come back to because it was too much for me absorb all in one go (that is not a criticism!).
#23
Physical Issues / Constantly t i r e d. Should I...
Last post by pelicantown - February 17, 2026, 06:36:30 PMHi! I've been struggling with fatigue for quite some time now (I can't remember the last time I felt truly energized), and I'm wondering if I should introduce coffee back into my life for a little kick. For context, I am very used to high levels of physical activity on a weekly basis (run 3 days a week and lift 3 days a week), and I'm wondering if this is a factor (it might not be, because I know it can also energize). I'm also wondering if winter is exacerbating my fatigue.
#24
Recovery Journals / Re: Miscellaneous ramblings of...
Last post by NarcKiddo - February 17, 2026, 04:35:56 PMPoints about co-regulation and co-dependence came up in someone else's journal. Specifically the compulsion to rush in and solve someone else's problems.
My mother has always done that to everyone bar the milkman. And she'd probably have done it to him, too, if she could have been bothered to get up at 4am to catch him on his delivery round.
I was brought up to believe that is what you do if you care for someone. Of course she needed constant reassurance so she modelled that to me. And the more I was stepping in to solve her problems the less the focus was on me, and mine. Because her solutions were unbearably awful most of the time and she forced me to follow her advice.
As I posted earlier, I failed to STFU and gave M some helpful suggestions she is following through. One of them I will not need to be involved with at all. She has already said her faithful slave, er I mean friend and neighbour, is sorting it out. The other I thought I might get involved in - she is obtaining an iPad for F so if he goes to hospital again he can access his emails. I do not think F wants an iPad or is interested in learning how to use it. So M has rushed in to solve his problem (which may not even be a problem).
I had forgotten that she wanted an iPad about 10 years ago and asked for my old one when I upgraded. Of course I had to teach her how to use it and she was an absolute pain in the backside about it. Eventually she gave up and got rid of it, saying that the iPad was messing up their internet access. Say, what?! I questioned this but not too hard because I was very glad to see the back of this iPad.
What I had also forgotten was that when she got the iPad she had to have a user ID, so we set that up for her. It needed a recovery email and I stupidly set mine up as the recovery.
The other day an email arrived in my junk folder. It was a link to set a new password for her user ID.
From this email I surmised the iPad had arrived. I'd spoken to her earlier that day and she had said nothing. I suppose the friend and neighbour was helping her set it up. Good - she hadn't asked me.
Only this ruddy email took up way more headspace than it should have done. I had vowed, and I think have written in a journal, that I will not help with any projects I have not been asked to help with. I might not even help with things they do expect me to. The care home debacle was the last straw. This iPad is supposedly for F and he may not even want it. I am not going to waste my time over it. Here stands NK, all strong and determined.
BUT - I got an email I needed to deal with so she could get on with changing her account password. Very simple. All I had to do was press a button. I didn't press the button. She hadn't asked me to.
That should have been that but then I started feeling bad about not pressing the button. I wondered how else she might get access to her user account to change the password. I wondered if she could set up a new one. I guess she could but she'd probably have to set up another email account for the purpose. I actually researched what hoops she would have to jump through. Part of me was desperate to help. I mean, it was only pressing a button. Part of me thought I was better off staying out of it. The friend could sort it out. Part of me felt angry that although the idea had originated from me she had not told me the iPad had arrived or asked me for help.
Why would I feel angry about that??? It's precisely the result I want. Nothing to do with it.
Hours later I pressed that blithering button. What on earth I thought I was doing I have no idea. Pressing the button meant helping. Stepping in to help when I had not been asked. Opening the door to her asking for more involvement. She must have had a fair idea of who the recovery email had been sent to. I know they star out some of the address for security reasons but I think they leave enough in for you to guess if you are familiar with the address. If she knew it was sent to me why would she not phone to ask me to press the button?
However I had waited long enough that the link had expired. No other recovery emails had arrived so I am guessing they sorted it out another way. I am visiting later this week and am expecting to hear something or other about this iPad.
This is a classic example of how something so small and simple can bring up so many CPTSD complications. Not only in the agony of whether or not to press that wretched button, but in the aftermath. Was I right? Protecting myself? Wrong? Mean? Petty? Vindictive? Probably all those things on some level or other. Sigh.
My mother has always done that to everyone bar the milkman. And she'd probably have done it to him, too, if she could have been bothered to get up at 4am to catch him on his delivery round.
I was brought up to believe that is what you do if you care for someone. Of course she needed constant reassurance so she modelled that to me. And the more I was stepping in to solve her problems the less the focus was on me, and mine. Because her solutions were unbearably awful most of the time and she forced me to follow her advice.
As I posted earlier, I failed to STFU and gave M some helpful suggestions she is following through. One of them I will not need to be involved with at all. She has already said her faithful slave, er I mean friend and neighbour, is sorting it out. The other I thought I might get involved in - she is obtaining an iPad for F so if he goes to hospital again he can access his emails. I do not think F wants an iPad or is interested in learning how to use it. So M has rushed in to solve his problem (which may not even be a problem).
I had forgotten that she wanted an iPad about 10 years ago and asked for my old one when I upgraded. Of course I had to teach her how to use it and she was an absolute pain in the backside about it. Eventually she gave up and got rid of it, saying that the iPad was messing up their internet access. Say, what?! I questioned this but not too hard because I was very glad to see the back of this iPad.
What I had also forgotten was that when she got the iPad she had to have a user ID, so we set that up for her. It needed a recovery email and I stupidly set mine up as the recovery.
The other day an email arrived in my junk folder. It was a link to set a new password for her user ID.
From this email I surmised the iPad had arrived. I'd spoken to her earlier that day and she had said nothing. I suppose the friend and neighbour was helping her set it up. Good - she hadn't asked me.
Only this ruddy email took up way more headspace than it should have done. I had vowed, and I think have written in a journal, that I will not help with any projects I have not been asked to help with. I might not even help with things they do expect me to. The care home debacle was the last straw. This iPad is supposedly for F and he may not even want it. I am not going to waste my time over it. Here stands NK, all strong and determined.
BUT - I got an email I needed to deal with so she could get on with changing her account password. Very simple. All I had to do was press a button. I didn't press the button. She hadn't asked me to.
That should have been that but then I started feeling bad about not pressing the button. I wondered how else she might get access to her user account to change the password. I wondered if she could set up a new one. I guess she could but she'd probably have to set up another email account for the purpose. I actually researched what hoops she would have to jump through. Part of me was desperate to help. I mean, it was only pressing a button. Part of me thought I was better off staying out of it. The friend could sort it out. Part of me felt angry that although the idea had originated from me she had not told me the iPad had arrived or asked me for help.
Why would I feel angry about that??? It's precisely the result I want. Nothing to do with it.Hours later I pressed that blithering button. What on earth I thought I was doing I have no idea. Pressing the button meant helping. Stepping in to help when I had not been asked. Opening the door to her asking for more involvement. She must have had a fair idea of who the recovery email had been sent to. I know they star out some of the address for security reasons but I think they leave enough in for you to guess if you are familiar with the address. If she knew it was sent to me why would she not phone to ask me to press the button?
However I had waited long enough that the link had expired. No other recovery emails had arrived so I am guessing they sorted it out another way. I am visiting later this week and am expecting to hear something or other about this iPad.
This is a classic example of how something so small and simple can bring up so many CPTSD complications. Not only in the agony of whether or not to press that wretched button, but in the aftermath. Was I right? Protecting myself? Wrong? Mean? Petty? Vindictive? Probably all those things on some level or other. Sigh.
#25
Please Introduce Yourself Here / Re: Introducing myself - hi, m...
Last post by NarcKiddo - February 17, 2026, 04:01:35 PMWelcome. 
#26
Please Introduce Yourself Here / Re: Introducing myself - hi, m...
Last post by Kizzie - February 17, 2026, 03:59:27 PMHi and a warm welcome to Out of the Storm Layla 
Good for you on your recovery, you've done some amazing work!
I think you'll find this group will help too as we do get it.
Good for you on your recovery, you've done some amazing work!
I think you'll find this group will help too as we do get it. #27
Self-Help & Recovery / Re: Tough Time
Last post by Kizzie - February 17, 2026, 03:56:41 PMHi Mamatus:
I'm sorry you are having a particularly tough time at the moment. Over the years here there seems to be two main ways members deal with the Inner Critic that work. The first is to challenge what it is saying to you. The second is to make peace with your ICr by talking with it and calming it (E.g., I know you're trying to help me stay safe by keeping me quiet, isolated and invisible but I've got this now, I will keep us safe).
The first worked best for me because when I compared myself to those who abused me and others who were not exactly positive human beings, the criticisms just did not hold up. I began to see myself as what I truly am and that is a decent, caring person who does not hurt others.
Whatever works for you of course
I'm sorry you are having a particularly tough time at the moment. Over the years here there seems to be two main ways members deal with the Inner Critic that work. The first is to challenge what it is saying to you. The second is to make peace with your ICr by talking with it and calming it (E.g., I know you're trying to help me stay safe by keeping me quiet, isolated and invisible but I've got this now, I will keep us safe).
The first worked best for me because when I compared myself to those who abused me and others who were not exactly positive human beings, the criticisms just did not hold up. I began to see myself as what I truly am and that is a decent, caring person who does not hurt others.
Whatever works for you of course
#28
Self-Help & Recovery / Re: Tough Time
Last post by NarcKiddo - February 17, 2026, 03:16:05 PMI'm sorry you are going through a particularly tough time.
I was glad to read that you have discovered the benefits of physical training for regulation. That works for me, too. I've also found anything repetitive that involves right brain is calming. For me colouring books and art (anything takes a long time and has lots of process) has been invaluable. Since you have worked in creative arts that might feel too much like work for you, I guess.
I've tried meditation and mindfulness but that does not work for me. My mind just shies away. I was perplexed because I had supposed mindfulness works for everyone. I assumed I was just useless at it. Then I discovered that if one has a trauma history it generally needs to be approached with more care. We have a window of tolerance that can be very, very small at first. It can be widened but it takes conscious effort and attunement to how you are actually feeling so you can pull back before overwhelm. I've heard it suggested that movement can help, which explains why I actually find a long slow walk on a treadmill often causes me to process all sorts of things I would keep well away from if lying down with my eyes closed. Moving feels like there is more of an escape route, I guess.
I hope things start feeling easier for you soon.
I was glad to read that you have discovered the benefits of physical training for regulation. That works for me, too. I've also found anything repetitive that involves right brain is calming. For me colouring books and art (anything takes a long time and has lots of process) has been invaluable. Since you have worked in creative arts that might feel too much like work for you, I guess.
I've tried meditation and mindfulness but that does not work for me. My mind just shies away. I was perplexed because I had supposed mindfulness works for everyone. I assumed I was just useless at it. Then I discovered that if one has a trauma history it generally needs to be approached with more care. We have a window of tolerance that can be very, very small at first. It can be widened but it takes conscious effort and attunement to how you are actually feeling so you can pull back before overwhelm. I've heard it suggested that movement can help, which explains why I actually find a long slow walk on a treadmill often causes me to process all sorts of things I would keep well away from if lying down with my eyes closed. Moving feels like there is more of an escape route, I guess.
I hope things start feeling easier for you soon.
#29
Recovery Journals / Re: The ramblings of an abused...
Last post by NarcKiddo - February 17, 2026, 03:04:19 PMThat's very sad. Thank you for being brave enough to be so honest. I don't stand in judgement. The ripples from abuse spread far and wide. Sometimes relationships that in theory could be salvaged, in fact can't. I think many of us here, if not all of us, have learned the hard way that the only person who can keep us safe is ourself. When we eventually find a way that we can live with, it is what it is.
#30
Recovery Journals / Re: Living As All of Me
Last post by NarcKiddo - February 17, 2026, 02:53:26 PMQuote from: HannahOne on February 17, 2026, 04:32:14 AMI find boundaries, conflict very stressful, painful and even triggering. But maybe boundaries, taking a stand, NO are essential parts of being oneself, parts of me.
Same. Thank you for saying this because I need to hear it.
I'm sorry you are scared and sad and had a falling out with your therapist.
