Sunday, September 6, 2015

My Dark Well and a New Home

For the past 6 months, my life has been a whirlwind of uprooting and significant changes.  It started with lack of communication, expectations lost, and me spiraling into a mini-depression, until life pulled me out of my funk...in order to find another home.  I've experienced a break-up, hard-truths, and a plenty of uncertainty and transition since I wrote here.

Yet, I'm finding that writing, even in my private journals, wasn't my salvation this time around, and that I just needed to go through whatever emotion was present at the time.  It's strange, I wonder if I was trying to hold my pain at bay when I went through my last transition, and decided to put on a brave face.  This time around, I think whatever bravado I had to push through my pain, was not there for me, letting myself be paralyze with my fears and doubts.  

I've always had these periods of depression, most not so bad as others.  During college, I found myself in this dark well that I couldn't get out of, and had a fleeting moment of suicide.  Thankfully, health care as a student is easy to come by, and I seek help on my own. Most of my writings on here came from that dark place that I sometimes occupy and I've managed to avoid therapy by writing in journals and these posts. This time around, I couldn't hide in my words.  

As much as living my own truths have helped me in so many ways, there are some things that even my ego can't avoid. So I found myself in a vulnerable position to deal with my shortcomings. By the end of May, I broke up with my secondary, the munch I helped organized disintegrate because of my lack of commitment, and I found myself in that deep well looking up again, this time needing to be there.  I ended up questioning about Poly, about power, about friendships and about myself.  At the time it felt like I couldn't find the light, but I functioned enough to go to work, sleep, eat, and have a relationship with my thing.  By the end of June, I was feeling myself and I managed to crawl out of that dark well.

Thank the universe for the timing...because as soon as I can enjoy my life again, I found out that the landlord decided to sell the apartment building and that we had to vacate by September 1st.  So I spent my birthday finding a place.  Find a place I did....but it's not in Oakland, where I've lived for almost 15 years.  I could go on and on about the why, but essentially I became a victim of the Bay Area Rental madness and I ended up living up north.  I commuted to and from Oakland for work for 2 1/2 weeks in the hellish I-80 rush hour traffic, until my office relocated to Walnut Creek.  I moved residences by the beginning of August; my office moved at the end of August.  BTW...I'm way done with the moving thing! 

I can write now.  I'm settled for the most part and finished up some tasks to make my home a  home.  I love where I live, it's very quiet and nice.  I do find myself missing Oakland, the Oakland I used to know anyway. I've also become road warrior queen, putting in more miles in my car since I've bought it 8 years ago.   The drive to and from Walnut Creek isn't as bad as to and from Oakland, but  I'm still trying to adjust my schedule around it.  Despite that, I've found that you don't escape your thoughts while driving the freeways alone.  I've already written a few things on my journal, and talked at length with friends.  I'm considering using my cell phones as a recorder to capture my thoughts.

That's what's going on.  I'm looking forward to my new life here and I plan more esoteric posts soon.

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