I recently cleared mine off and the cat was so grateful for his new seat.
Monzcarro
joined 2 years ago
Yep, 41 woman here, and it's only in the last 5 years or so that I've realised that my fidgeting (stimming), pretending to be normal (masking), and being unable to cope when environments are visually busy and noisy (overstimulation), are real things that have actual names.
But hey, I achieved good grades and wasn't disruptive, so what did it matter that I was falling apart inside and had to spend many years and many tears developing strategies for a world that exhausts me?
When my first child was born, we only had one cat. He was very attentive during pregnancy then left a dead mouse as a gift right by the crib. He was a mouser when he was young, but hadn't hunted in a few years, so it was obvious that he understood there was a new "kitten" to take care of.
When he was gone and we had one of the cats we have now, I had my second child. Now this cat had never hunted so much ad a spider, but she caught her only prey to date, another mouse, and left it beside a gift bag of baby stuff I had from work.
I could have definitely done without dead mice, but I was pretty touched that they understood and wanted to do something "nice" for the babies.
I know people think they are being really helpful when they make suggestions, but I wish they would take a step back and ask first.
I have lived with chronic fatigue for 18 years, and pain longer than that. My hair loss started over 20 years ago, and I can't conceive of what it's like to not wake several times a night, or to feel refreshed in the morning. Whatever they're going to say, I've likely tried it, or researched it, or it's obvious pseudo science that doesn't merit research.
It would be one thing if people had knowledge or expertise, but every time it's something they've seen on Facebook, or something they think helped them with a very minor short-term issue.
Sometimes I'm more forgiving because people don't know my story, but when they know this has been almost my entire adult life, and they tell me to buy a supplement or look into grounding mats (seriously), it really annoys me.
This isn't about health professionals looking at my case and running tests or trying new treatments. It's the people who see me at breaking point and ask if I've tried a pillow spray.
Yep. There is an expectation from others that you have to constantly "perform" disability in order for it to be valid.
I can't just not do things; they need doing. Sometimes those things are incredibly active, but I know I'll pay for those later with a migraine or something else incapacitating. People don't see that, or the calculations I have to make, they just see the active part.
Also, no amount of rest leads to recovery or feeling replenished, so it doesn't make sense to me to neglect activity just to lie there in pain anyway.
Beehold! My device for rescuing bees from the rooflight.
Not sure why it uploaded twice, sorry!