Overheard at the Gym

gym employee: "Hi, how are you?"

gym patron, through gritted teeth: "I'm here."

A woman after my own heart!

The Trouble With Empathy

Over at Queer Romance Month I saw this video about empathy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=173&v=1Evwgu369Jw

It's thoughtful and funny, well worth a watch. But for me, it kind of scratches the surface of what empathy actually is: it's more about offering an empathic response. You see it a tiny bit -- the bear gets a cloud over her head -- but you don't really see the bear taking on the fox's feelings with her.

I've always had problems with empathy, and I still do. When my son tells me about something wrong, my instinct is often to distance, to argue, to try to convince him that no, it's not really wrong, or we can easily fix it. And why?

Because empathy HURTS. It's not just saying the right things instead of the wrong ones. It's really feeling. And taking on the depths of my son's pain is agonizing.

I see this in my son too. When he sees me in pain, he's in pain for me. Anything that goes a little wrong for me hurts him. It's a hard way to live. Luckily I'm a grown up and can usually brings things down: "It's okay, it's just a little scratch, happens all the time." But that doesn't work when it's his pain.

Accessible

My mom always speaks admiringly of how well my son expresses his feelings.  I always had tremendous difficulty talking about what was going on with me; she's told me that once during a very bad time she broke her own strict rules about privacy to read my diary but it was no help at all. I didn't even write about my feelings. Possibly I didn't even understand them myself.

Son has always been encouraged to understand and express himself, with additional expert guidance since he was 3. Today I noticed an unexpected benefit of this: when you have words to understand your own feelings, it's much easier for someone else to explain their feelings to you.  Telling him "please be quiet because your dad is stressed" brought out frustration and stomping. Reminding him that noise is one of the worst things when he's feeling stressed brought peace and a loving apology.

He absolutely has empathy, no question of it. As with so many issues regarding disabilities, it's just a matter of the right access.

Innocence Lost

Yesterday, while I was in the middle of a medication change and a stress attack and a million different tasks, son asked for a hug. Instead of asking him to wait or get his weighted blanket or saying I just couldn't hug right then, I gave him a mean hug. It hurt him.

He was so shocked. It's not that I've never lost my temper with him before,,, we clash and hurt each other fairly often, as people who have similar issues often do. Usually if I get mad he just gets mad right back. But I really went beyond the pale there.

He forgave me immediately, but I don't think either of us is over it. I woke up crying. Because I ruined the purity of The Hug.

Upside Down and Inside Out

My family saw "Inside Out" the other week, and it really struck a chord in all three of us. ("Lava" I pretty much loathed -- for God's sake, if you're going to tell a story in song, get a decent songwriter!) Son was intrigued by the idea of all the different emotions working in the control center and we had some great conversations about how seemingly negative emotions can actually be helpful, unless they become monsters -- like fear becoming an anxiety monster, for example. Hub saw a metaphor for depression in Riley getting cut off from both joy and sadness.

What most spoke to me was the islands that form personality, and their destruction. This is pretty much how my life has been for the last 10 years. I spent a lot of time building up some wonderful islands -- "salsa dancing island," which also really built up my neglected "friendship island"; "cooking healthy foods island"; various social networks. And then they all started crashing down on me, leaving me with less and less.

My big question about the movie was, which came first. Did Joy and Sadness and the rest make things happen that affected Riley, as depicted? Or did their adventures follow Riley's feelings? It makes sense for me to wonder that, because for years now, doctors have been telling me that my exhaustion is caused by depression, while I've believed that I have an underlying undiagnosed health issue causing the exhaustion, which brought down all my islands, which caused the depression.

Either way, it helps to have a metaphor.

Sing Low, Sweet Chariot

I'm taking a class on singing and dancing Broadway style. Yesterday I did a solo part in my belt voice and today tried one in my high voice. I was really struck by the difference I felt. Being in my high voice makes me feel shy and diffident. Belting fills me with confidence.

I felt terrible about how badly I did today, but the teacher asked if I can belt it, so I have another chance tomorrow. Hoping I will score a solo for our performance.

I think I've read that speaking in a high voice makes a person seem younger and less assured, but I hadn't realized it feels that way to the speaker, too.

Clash of the Sensory Needs

While reading autism-related blogs/boards, I've come across a particular fantasy several times: AutismLand, a community where autistic people can just be themselves and not have to try to fit in, and everyone around will understand and not judge.

It's a lovely idea, but it has several major flaws. One is that autistic people, and those who love them, aren't automatically free of judgement of others. One is that not all autistic people have the same needs. And one is that even people with similar needs can clash horribly.

My house is a freakin' sensory nightmare of noise and smells and mess and chaos lately. I'm very lucky to have my own space... but it's not soundproofed. And I can't hide there all the time.