Have I always been this sensitive?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 146
Have I always been this sensitive?
I know you can't answer because you didn't "know" me before, but holy hell.
My country is so deep in grief right now and I am too. With the pandemic, the protests, the things I'm not supposed to mention because this is a recovery forum, etc. I just feel like a gaping wound. It's hard to tell if it's because I'm still adjusting (still having some jags of anxiety, but I do have anxiety disorders, soooooo?), things are all confusing/violent/scary/being discussed, or because I'm just sensitive.
Did y'all get/are any of y'all really super emotionally sensitive in early recovery? Kinda thinking this is one of those great both/and situations. I do have this nasty habit of pathologizing/intellectualizing my feelings to create distance (or just drinking until I can't feel anything at all). Before you advise me to turn off the news, I have. I feel guilty about that but something has to give in this moment.
My country is so deep in grief right now and I am too. With the pandemic, the protests, the things I'm not supposed to mention because this is a recovery forum, etc. I just feel like a gaping wound. It's hard to tell if it's because I'm still adjusting (still having some jags of anxiety, but I do have anxiety disorders, soooooo?), things are all confusing/violent/scary/being discussed, or because I'm just sensitive.
Did y'all get/are any of y'all really super emotionally sensitive in early recovery? Kinda thinking this is one of those great both/and situations. I do have this nasty habit of pathologizing/intellectualizing my feelings to create distance (or just drinking until I can't feel anything at all). Before you advise me to turn off the news, I have. I feel guilty about that but something has to give in this moment.
Coffee Snob
.gif)
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: USA
Posts: 808
Originally Posted by prettiekittie 
I know you can't answer because you didn't "know" me before, but holy hell.
My country is so deep in grief right now and I am too. With the pandemic, the protests, the things I'm not supposed to mention because this is a recovery forum, etc. I just feel like a gaping wound. It's hard to tell if it's because I'm still adjusting (still having some jags of anxiety, but I do have anxiety disorders, soooooo?), things are all confusing/violent/scary/being discussed, or because I'm just sensitive.
Did y'all get/are any of y'all really super emotionally sensitive in early recovery? Kinda thinking this is one of those great both/and situations. I do have this nasty habit of pathologizing/intellectualizing my feelings to create distance (or just drinking until I can't feel anything at all). Before you advise me to turn off the news, I have. I feel guilty about that but something has to give in this moment.
My country is so deep in grief right now and I am too. With the pandemic, the protests, the things I'm not supposed to mention because this is a recovery forum, etc. I just feel like a gaping wound. It's hard to tell if it's because I'm still adjusting (still having some jags of anxiety, but I do have anxiety disorders, soooooo?), things are all confusing/violent/scary/being discussed, or because I'm just sensitive.
Did y'all get/are any of y'all really super emotionally sensitive in early recovery? Kinda thinking this is one of those great both/and situations. I do have this nasty habit of pathologizing/intellectualizing my feelings to create distance (or just drinking until I can't feel anything at all). Before you advise me to turn off the news, I have. I feel guilty about that but something has to give in this moment.
Btw I've never met an alcoholic who didn't have thin skin. We pretty much take everything personally.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Arizona, USA
Posts: 1,598
Not sure what country you're from. But I'm from America. I think the idea that the country is in shambles is far overblown. If that thought overtakes you, maybe think about the people in your life. Are they different? Is your immediate life truly impacted or is most of what is bothering you the things you see on tv and read in the media. The media, both sides, is SO negative these days. I have to read and watch news in small doses or I become very down and negative. I don't think most Americans are really as messed up as the media would have us believe. Just my $0.02.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 286
From your description sounds like we are in the same country, I am a heavy follower of current event especially regarding policy but after one month of quarantine I started scaling back because I was not doing anything but drinking and getting emotionally charged. Finally I came off it, I know my position on Fundamental things and the rest is just noise, permanently deleted my social media because everyone I talked to I already had their number(this was last week). Took several walks outside, visited with afew people with t.v turned off just talking and realized the world is not falling down.
Tech has connected us but also exposes us to much more that in outside our lives and makes it feel that we are living it. I don't know if you are oversensitive but I will say I am not and I felt the same way you do till I stepped back and took perspective(from my view of course).
Important thing is to find peace in the storm, I truly hope you do.😊
Tech has connected us but also exposes us to much more that in outside our lives and makes it feel that we are living it. I don't know if you are oversensitive but I will say I am not and I felt the same way you do till I stepped back and took perspective(from my view of course).
Important thing is to find peace in the storm, I truly hope you do.😊
Member
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 286
Originally Posted by BeABetterMan
Not sure what country you're from. But I'm from America. I think the idea that the country is in shambles is far overblown. If that thought overtakes you, maybe think about the people in your life. Are they different? Is your immediate life truly impacted or is most of what is bothering you the things you see on tv and read in the media. The media, both sides, is SO negative these days. I have to read and watch news in small doses or I become very down and negative. I don't think most Americans are really as messed up as the media would have us believe. Just my $0.02.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,432
I think a lot of us worry and are sad about the world.
I can remember as a kid thinking the world was about to end due to nuclear war. The pictures from Africa during Live Aid haunted me. AIDS ..so many good people gone. I saw the Twin towers fall and felt the anguish of people involved. I,ve seen fires decimate my country early this year and watch cyclones take out some of my island neighbours and felt my heart grow heavy. I worried that COVID was going to kill me.and I’ve watched the death toll climb and the pain of those who’ve lost loved ones.
I’ve watched not just one country but the world in pain. It’s tough.
There’s any number of valid responses. I can help in some small way to aid others, I can pray, I can simply be grateful that my life and my loved ones lives so far are, despite 2020, still pretty unchanged.
The one thing I cannot do is drink or get high over world events. Opting out of pain and fear doesn’t work - and I think we can all attest to that.
I get comfort from knowing I’m not alone - and I thank you guys for that. Together we have a strength. I really believe than can carry us through.
D
I can remember as a kid thinking the world was about to end due to nuclear war. The pictures from Africa during Live Aid haunted me. AIDS ..so many good people gone. I saw the Twin towers fall and felt the anguish of people involved. I,ve seen fires decimate my country early this year and watch cyclones take out some of my island neighbours and felt my heart grow heavy. I worried that COVID was going to kill me.and I’ve watched the death toll climb and the pain of those who’ve lost loved ones.
I’ve watched not just one country but the world in pain. It’s tough.
There’s any number of valid responses. I can help in some small way to aid others, I can pray, I can simply be grateful that my life and my loved ones lives so far are, despite 2020, still pretty unchanged.
The one thing I cannot do is drink or get high over world events. Opting out of pain and fear doesn’t work - and I think we can all attest to that.
I get comfort from knowing I’m not alone - and I thank you guys for that. Together we have a strength. I really believe than can carry us through.
D
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,497
Glennon Doyle, a recovering alcoholic and sensitive person says “I'm not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now, when someone asks me why I cry so often, I say, 'For the same reason I laugh so often--because I'm paying attention.' I tell them that we can choose to be perfect and admired or to be real and loved."
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: NSW - Australia
Posts: 14,584
Member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: K.C.MO
Posts: 425
Originally Posted by Dee74
I think a lot of us worry and are sad about the world.
I can remember as a kid thinking the world was about to end due to nuclear war. The pictures from Africa during Live Aid haunted me. AIDS ..so many good people gone. I saw the Twin towers fall and felt the anguish of people involved. I,ve seen fires decimate my country early this year and watch cyclones take out some of my island neighbours and felt my heart grow heavy. I worried that COVID was going to kill me.and I’ve watched the death toll climb and the pain of those who’ve lost loved ones.
I’ve watched not just one country but the world in pain. It’s tough.
There’s any number of valid responses. I can help in some small way to aid others, I can pray, I can simply be grateful that my life and my loved ones lives so far are, despite 2020, still pretty unchanged.
The one thing I cannot do is drink or get high over world events. Opting out of pain and fear doesn’t work - and I think we can all attest to that.
I get comfort from knowing I’m not alone - and I thank you guys for that. Together we have a strength. I really believe than can carry us through.
D
I can remember as a kid thinking the world was about to end due to nuclear war. The pictures from Africa during Live Aid haunted me. AIDS ..so many good people gone. I saw the Twin towers fall and felt the anguish of people involved. I,ve seen fires decimate my country early this year and watch cyclones take out some of my island neighbours and felt my heart grow heavy. I worried that COVID was going to kill me.and I’ve watched the death toll climb and the pain of those who’ve lost loved ones.
I’ve watched not just one country but the world in pain. It’s tough.
There’s any number of valid responses. I can help in some small way to aid others, I can pray, I can simply be grateful that my life and my loved ones lives so far are, despite 2020, still pretty unchanged.
The one thing I cannot do is drink or get high over world events. Opting out of pain and fear doesn’t work - and I think we can all attest to that.
I get comfort from knowing I’m not alone - and I thank you guys for that. Together we have a strength. I really believe than can carry us through.
D
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 280
I was very emotional in my first month. I would cry at movies, flare up and yell at loved ones, and overreact at work. But emotionally I’m much better now after 5 months sober.
it will even out. I think it’s the toxins leaving your body.
it will even out. I think it’s the toxins leaving your body.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
There is no manual, no life hack. Each one of us is permitted to grieve, suffer, and otherwise process our sense of loss in whatever way we need to do it. What's the alternative? Pretend that it's not happening?
We're currently living through one of the worst periods in American History. You can even look it up. The trauma is real, it's intense, and it's chronic. It's also fluid and expanding. We're forced to be creative with diversions, distractions, and things or activities that give us even the shortest of reprieves. Many of us are forced to act.
We need to respect the honesty of people's suffering regardless of our interpretation of the context.
We're currently living through one of the worst periods in American History. You can even look it up. The trauma is real, it's intense, and it's chronic. It's also fluid and expanding. We're forced to be creative with diversions, distractions, and things or activities that give us even the shortest of reprieves. Many of us are forced to act.
We need to respect the honesty of people's suffering regardless of our interpretation of the context.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Scotland
Posts: 3,837
I am really sensitive to everything. When I was a teenager it felt totally unbearable. Now I look at it as a reasonable response to all that it happening in the world. The trick is to learn to take care of yourself and focus on all the beauty too. For me....there has to be a balance or it's too much to cope with. 
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
