Alien Behavior

I feel like I don't belong on this planet. Like I am an alien and everyday I wake up and put this human suit on. I zip it up, look in the mirror, adjust it, and go out and enter the world. Desperately trying to blend with the other civilians. I don't understand their language, or their struggles that seem so big to them, yet so small to me. I don't get them, and they can not see the little green alien monster that I am inside.They see what I show them. A regular girl that hides behind a smile. I have them all fooled. They think I am like them. But I come from a different type of world. A very dark a scary place. A wasteland full of trash and rotting things. Everyone is angry there and everyone is unkind. Their are other girls aliens like me there and they go by names like Dirty, Filthy, and Shame. My name on that planet was Ugly because that what I felt inside. That's what those unkind people told me I was. I hated that horrible planet. 18 years of my life I wasted there. But then I grew up and I moved far away. The people here don't understand what it's like to live in a world that could be filled with such hurt. Or what its like to be  named Ugly, Filthy, or Dirty. We aliens work so hard to fit in, be like everyone, not stand out, or be judged for what we suffered or from where we come from but...sometimes that mask we put up, our human suit slowly starts to slip off. Revealing parts of who we really are. And sometimes when people see this, people that do not understand, they get scared. What we have gone through makes others uncomfortable. Some choose to walk away from us, leaving us when we need them most. When this happens I build my human suit tougher. Shielding more of me and pretending to be this new person. But if I need to pretend to keep these people in my life...Do I even really want them there? This suit I carry weighs me down. I need people who don't care where I come from, or how different I am. I need them to just care about me. The real me. Not who I try to be for them. I need people that will help take the weight of the world off my shoulders. If I am different, if I am a little green alien not like everyone else then I think its okay to be who i am. It's okay to be different. I will never return to that place I came from. This is my home now and I don't want to blend anymore. I want to stand out. And I want to support all of the other people out there that don't fit in either. By being different we form a solid union of uniquely similar people. We are all different and that makes us all the same. And we should all be able to live without judgements. Not having to hide where we come from or be ashamed of a life we had no control over. I'm tired of hiding me. I am who I am. I come from where I come from. You either except me or you don't. You either love me or you don't.

 I went to an art workshop (hosted through my support group) it was called the I Can project. We write out I Can and I Can't statements and destroy the I Can't and use the I Can's to make some form of art. I made a tree and In case you can't read my words on the photo my I Can's say: I can be loved, I can find love, I can dream, I can have a future, I can be safe, I can speak, I can grow, I can be happy, I can enjoy life, I can live in the moment, I can trust, I can find peace, I can stop expecting the worst, I can create, and I can be who I am. Then the I Can't statements are the ones falling off the tree on to the ground. I only wanted to put a couple. They say I can't be happy, I can't trust people, and I can't talk about my past...so those aren't even true anymore but that's how I felt before. (the whole point of this project is to include your hands in the actual art) so I did a cut out over it in tissue paper...kinda like i'm holding on to all those I Can statements. Definitely want to do this again. It was very empowering.

Dear Diary...I'm Falling

Do you ever just feel like you falling? Like when your having a dream and  you fall off a cliff and you wake up kicking and trying to grab hold of something. That's how I feel when I'm awake. Like I'm not really here. Like the ground suddenly just shifts from under me and I fall, and I'm constantly kicking and searching for something to grab hold of. Something or someone to save me. But I just keep falling. Sometimes It's like I'm falling into a never ending tunnel. I'm being swallowed up by the earth. These dark memories wash over me and I start to fall to my death and there's nothing to drag me out and save me. I am so tired of kicking and fighting and always searching for that thing to save me. What if that thing doesn't even exist? What if I'm wasting my time and all of my energy just grabbing at thin air? I wait and I wait and I wait for the big SMACK. The sound it makes when I've stopped falling. When all that pain is finally over but that never happens. Something always pulls me back up, helping me gain my footing again. But why? Why wont it let the pain just be over? What is saving me when I feel like I can not even save myself? Why am I here fighting so hard everyday, fighting to just exist? Everyday seems like effort to just be. Breathing and existing, carrying on in this world takes so much effort. Why am I fighting so hard for a future that most times seems so bleak and unsure. What If this is my forever? What If forever I stay this broken, hurt, sad, little shell of a person...if I do then what is my purpose for fighting so hard? I wish someone could tell me. Help me understand. Tell me that one day things will be okay. That one day I will be stronger, wiser, better. And soon I won't feel like I'm falling anymore but like I am solidly placed in this world. That my life has a meaning, that all my fighting, and suffering, and searching, and agony was not in vain. 

For whatever reason I keep going. And I don't walk I run. I don't know why I run but I've been running for 23 years. I run knowing that that cliff can appear at any moment, knocking me down, sucking me in to the darkness. But I always make it out. Then I start running again. Running away from the past and all the memories from it. I don't know why I run. I don't know why I fight. I don't know why I continue to search, but I do. Maybe one day I will know why. Maybe finally I will reach that destination that my legs so desperately want to take me to.

Therapy No More

Wednesday was my last day of therapy. My sessions ran out with her and now its time for me to move on to someone else. But I haven't found anyone else yet. I thought it would be easier to say goodbye. I didn't realize it would be like this. How do you say goodbye to someone who kept you alive? How do you even tell someone that they helped keep you alive? I don't know where I would be if I hadn't started coming to therapy but it wouldn't have been in a good place. I just.... I finally found someone to talk to that listened to me, someone that i could tell all this awfulness to instead of keeping it locked up like i normally do and now that has been taken away from me. How am i supposed to trust someone else with these horrible secrets? I don't understand why everything is changing all at the same time right now. And I'm not ready to be away from her. It's too soon but I have no choice. I tried to be strong, I didn't let myself cry in there. When she asked me how I felt about it I just said It sucked. Then I broke later. When I was alone. I can't let anyone else see how dependent I am on her or the therapy because I don't wanted to feel like a freak. I just want to be normal, whatever that is. I am just so tired of everyone leaving me. And my mind just can't comprehend how someone who has been such a huge part of my life and healing can now be someone I never talk to again. I can't just never talk to her again...How will I survive? Ugh..I feel like a crazy person... Why can't I just get over it? Why am I crying so much? I knew it wasn't going to last forever....I wish I could just get over it and move on. I need to stop being so dependent on therapy and people. Because in the end they all leave...they only one I can trust is myself.