Hush-hush gets a voice

Today in our world we are told to not body shame. Today we are told that it is not cool to pick on, judge, degrade other females because in doing so it will make them feel less. It will make females feel like they will never measure up. In todays world we are bombarded with models and celebrities, along with fitness everywhere you look. At times it is difficult to not feel less than...

As a child you dont know how to have self respect or self worth. It is up to your parents, guardian's to cultivate and nourish it to grow. My parents did not do that. I am even gonna go out on a limb and say they probably didn't know how. I was left to my own devices and learn how to do that all by myself EXCEPT, I didn't know how.

I spent my early years just trying my hardest to just get my mother to love me. I did everything I could to get her to accept me, to love me, to just want to be around me. I spent my teenage years still trying but now throw in hormones and puberty. Now what?

By the time that all hit, I didn't know me, didn't think I was worth anything, didn't think I was beautiful. Don't get me wrong I'm still not beautiful but...... Anyways, I spent all my time trying to get those around me to like me, and that's when it started I didn't have any self worth and absolutely no self respect.

Getting in to my adult years and it just seem to get worse but yet I didnt know. I didnt know how to stop it. When one thing didnt work or quit working I would try something else. To me, when someone would show me attention, whether it be physical, sexual or even emotional I thought I was accepted. I thought I was loved. I thought I was finally good enough.

The only thing all that did was give me more baggage and left the deficient worse than ever. It was a hole that I didn't think I could ever climb out of. It was with the help of my counselors and some serious writing that I finally understood and began the journey of learning to have self respect, self worth and most important self love......

It's not so hush-hush in my head

 Its easier in my head than what it use to be. To go back and let you in on what was in my head, I have to go back to those thoughts, those feelings. I have to make sure I can handle going back and still be ok. Today its definitely not as bad as it use to be but I still have to self check. Today I can usually get myself back from the brink but only because I have dealt, process and learned the truth.

Once you deal with depression, suicidial thoughts, lack of respect for self and low to no self worth, you realize how precious it is to protect your mind. Contrary to what people saw, I didnt have a normal childhood. I grew up wondering if my mother loved me. I grew up wondering what I did wrong and what did I have to do to be loved and accepted. I would often look at my siblings and think I sure wish I could be like them to get the love and acceptance that I thought they had.

To grow up like that, well as you can tell it was a a breeding ground for all kinds of bad thoughts. I grew to become a woman who would do anything to be liked let alone to be loved. The crazy stufff I did to be accepted, I didnt know how to be me. I didnt know who I was. I thought I had to prove myself time after time, just to get someone to like me. I did things....well i did things just to be loved.

I wasnt good enough. I wasnt good enough to be a wife, a mother, a friend, a lover, a partner. I just wasnt good enough no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did. I'm not sure when the negative thoughts started. As a child I would ask God if He could send my real mom because who was there couldnt be it. I remember thinking if I could just say the right words or do the rights things then it could be better. Little did I know that I was setting myself up for a lifetime of negativity and epic falls.

To the world and friends I put a smile on and had a great time. In my mind and in my room I took the smile off. My mind was second skin. It was comfortable to me, I knew what to do and what to expect at least then I did. If someone didn't talk to me, then they were mad at me. If someone didnt invite me then I wasnt good enough. If someone was distracted talking to me then I wasnt important enough. If someone didn't talk to me then it was up to me to make it right, I just knew I had done something wrong. I had to do everything I could, say the right words and then people, my friends, co-workers would like me.

It wasnt until therapy that I realized just how wrong all that was. My mind became a minefield of toxic explosives ready to suck me back in. I didnt know who I was or how to just be me. Every time I would make progress then I would step on a landmine. Usually someone had a bad day and didnt feel like talking, I would go right back to what my thought process was, except this time I would stay but not as long.

We had to go over the second skin thoughts we had to retrain my brain to understand. We had to take it a thought at a time and destroy it. I love to write so I wrote a 6 page letter on exactly what I thought of myself. It was completely filled with all negative. My counselor asked me to do a positive one and then made the comment I bet I dont even get one page. He was right of course, at that time I couldnt even do a full page of positive.

I tell you these things because you may think its hard or you couldn't do it but yet I know you can as long as you are willing to put in the time, the tears, the energy and the focus. I had help along the way with a counselor and very close friends. My counselor wanted me to ask my friends to write down 3 things they love/like about Melissa. I ended up with about 6 people doing it and they did more than 3. At that time I could believe some of what they said and the other things they said, well in my mind they wrote it because they had to or because someone else was going to read it so they had better make it good. Now I can tell you I do beleive what they wrote.

It took me a while to realize that no matter what others said good or bad, I would believe what I believe until my mind could think different. It took me a while to realize if I just start believing the good and believing in the good then it would be easier. Nowadays if I slip, I dont stay long in second skin. Its like uncomfortable, it doesnt fit me, it just feels weird. To do this writing and a few more I am just visiting that place........

Things dont really have to be hush-hush

 Going to see a counselor is not something most people talk about. Seeing a therapist isnt something people do. Going to go sit for an hour and talk to a stranger, well thats just not what you are suppose to do.

Granted there are therapist, counselors out there that just want to prescribe you meds and be done. Those types will not do you much good at healing your heart and your mind.

I had to see a counselor to get my mind in a healthy place. I had to see a counselor to get the thoughts straight in my head. I had to see a counselor to validate that what I was feeling was okay, that what I grew up with caused my mind to not be a healthy place. Suicide, negativity, poor decisions, shame, low self esteem, no self worth well you get the picture! Those are just some of the things I had to deal with in order to get healthy.

I didn't list regret because to do so would be to change who I am and while I may not be ok with all my decisions but the results did make me who I am today. I cringe at some of my decisions and not taking enough chances.

My decisions were based off of childhood tapes being played in my head on a continuous loop. I didnt have a clear understanding of just how much that tape had played in my decisions. I had no real clue as to how much it affected my life. It wasnt until I was sitting in front of a stranger to talk bout what was in my head for me to understand the magnitude of just what my childhood had done to me.

In the next few posts you will read bout how I had to overcome depression, shame, no self worth. You will see how I came to love myself and learn about self respect. You will get to see how much I have changed to become the somewhat healthy woman most people see today. I didn't do this alone, I had help from God, a couple of counselors and close friends

Why do things have to be hush-hush?

 Life is funny at times. When you have conversations with friends, it's different than when you talk to co-workers or even families. Then there is the conversations you have with your closes friend. So let me ask you a question, is everything on the table when you talk or do you just go to the line? Do you watch your words? Do you listen to hear or to speak back? Is any subject up for discussion?

I use to be one of those people who just listened, but I did listen so that I could help if I could. I use to be one of those people who would not discuss what was going on in my head, it was too scary at the time. I use to be one of those people that you just wasnt for sure bout what was going on, I was always helping others and being too active until there wasn't a choice but to confront what was in my head.

It was not easy getting help in the beginning, it wasnt easy to open up and talk bout what was in my head or maybe my heart of hearts. To allow someone to know my deepest pain. To allow someone to see the pain, the frustration was too much for me. No one ever listened before. No one ever took me seriously when I would talk bout what was in my heart and then I was expected to open up and talk? How?