Be carefull that you don't burn bridges with your friend by being less than happy for her right now. Even if you must pretend the happiness. Maybe you could call her and listen to her story about the new guy and if the conversation turns to you, you could tell her that you have been feeling like a doom magnet. She may be just the one to encourage you right now.
Blessings!
In His Grip,
Rianna -
I understand how you feel - sometimes, when I'm feeling 'down', it's like you know that you need a 'recharge' of your emotional batteries before you can handle the problems, or even the successes of friends. You just feel drained, and want to shut down.
On the other hand - you know that you NEED your friends - and that it takes BEING a friend, to have a friend be there when you need them.
When I run into that kind of situation, I know I need to call my friend -but I also know that the call will probably push me into overload - so I set up a 'backup' plan. I'll set a timer, ring the ringer on my cell phone, ring my own doorbell, or tell my son to come and get me - I'll create some reason to "interrupt" the call - so that I limit my time on the phone.
I've still acknowledged my friend's need for support, and I have protected myself from becoming even more "down". I WILL call her back for a long discussion at another time when I'm feeling better - but this way, nobody gets ignored or hurt.
You might try this with your friend - it will acknowledge her happiness, while limiting your exposure to it and might save your friendship.
laura
Laura . . . that's a great idea too. Sometimes I just tell the other person that I have only 15 minutes.
Keep us posted Raina!!
In His Grip,
There is no such word as can't. Can't simply means wouln't. Grab as much as life as you can. Future is a long way away for those who don't believe. Don't build a foundation of life on sand. It will take it away with the tide. Love a little more, be unkind a lot less.
different phones work differently - but on my phone, there's a menu where I can go to change the rings - (to chose a new ring for calls?) and you play any 'ring', so you can hear what it sounds like. So all I do is go to that menu and chose a ringer and play it - since I'm on my home phone - the person on the other end can't SEE what I'm doing anyway - they only hear the ringer go off in the background..
My phone also has a clock in it with an alarm and a timer - that will play any one of the 'ring' choices - so if i wanted to, I could set that to go off at a specific time.
Because I AM ADD - I use timers, alarms and my PDA all the time - When I'm working, I set the timer on my watch when I go to lunch - otherwise i would get distracted and come back from lunch late and get in trouble. I use timers for all sorts of 'reminders' to jar me out of the 'daydream state' I can often fall into.
One job I had with a Real estate title company, part of my job was to collect all the checks from all the closings each day, tally them up and get them deposited in the bank by 3 pm each day. It was a job that was rotated thru our dept every month. It wasn't hard to do at all - but I would always get involved in something else, and not start collecting the checks on time and miss the 3pm deadline - meaning we lost a day of interest on hundreds of thousands of dollars! ( that tended to annoy my employer!) I started setting my watch alarm for every day at 2 pm to warn me to go pick up the checks then - giving me plenty of time to complete the deposit slip and run to the bank, even if the tally didn't balance, I had time to work it out. It worked so well, that everyone else in my dept started to depend on MY WATCH ALARM when it was their turn to do the banking!
That's what I mean about some of the ADD behavioral 'technics' that might help lots of people who don't have ADD or don't want to do medication - there's a whole bunch of tips and things that can help even 'normal' people.
There's a good, and FUN book out Called; 'Survival Tips' for Women with AD/HD (Beyond Piles, Palms and Post-its) by Terry Matlen, MSW - and it's not just for those with ADD.
She collected many, many real-life tips ( including how to manage this kind of 'sensory overload') from women all over the world (including me!) on how THEY dealt with the living problems that constantly trip us up - because we just weren't 'wired' to be 'superwoman'. These tips are great for anyone who is dealing with any kind of problem, really, that interferes with daily life - because so much is expected of women today. We're supposed to be able to effortlessly 'juggle' home, work, kids, families, - the truth is, most of us CAN'T 'do it all' without some kind of assistance.
Check it out at your local library - if it doesn't give you at least SOME usefull ideas, at the very least, you will know that you are not alone in the way your life is!!
laura
Rianna
I completely understand where you are coming from. I may very well be in the same position as you are job wise. I work for a company that has a bunch of branches. First they closed down our claims department and sent all our work to another branch. I work clerical and I supported the claims dept. Well after they were gone I was moved over to the commercial lines side. Well, they are talking about going totally online at some future date, possibly by the end of the year. That would eliminate everything I do. I too know people who are getting newer cars and I cant afford one. Mine is a 1997 and has problems with oil that they said they would have to take the engine apart to the tune of like 4K so I just have to keep putting oil in it.
As far as your friend, it has been several days now so I dont know if you have called her or not. If it were me, I would wait a few days til I felt better. That way I would not end up saying anything I shouldnt say. I hope you are feeling better now. That is what I am going to have to start doing. I went off on my best friends voice mail on both her phones and she is really upset with me. I dont know if we can still be friends. It is up to her. I was just so mad at the situation I just called. I should have waited til I cooled down. You need to take care of youself first. Noone else will. But you do need your friends. I have one good friend. She is our vet. I used to work with her but we were not friends then. I followed her to the 2 clinics she went after working where we both worked and within the past 6 months or so we have become good friends. When I am with her I laugh alot which is important. I have several other good friends but I know what it is like when they are so up and you are so down.
Please post again so I can see how things went.
Chelsi
I called my friend and followed everyones advice on here including yours, and I am feeling better. I even have a job interview this Thursday for a company that may pay me more than what I am making now. I just need to believe in my own worth and ask for what I deserve. I hate to leave the company I am at now, as I feel like my co-workers are family and I know I will miss the comraderie. Thanks again for your support. I hope your own job situation gets better..it is no fun feeling like things are unstable, and how long we will have our jobs. Keep the faith - you sound like a great worker, and any company would be lucky to have you.