I’m medicated to the gills, so I’m not having full-on panic attacks, just lots of moments of dread.
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Hopefully just chatting about it, getting it off your chest (a smidge) helps. Also, kudos to you and your efforts to help her! Unfortunately, some of us need to learn things the hard way (me) so like @Aquarius said, be there for her and make sure she knows (as annoying as you might be…lol) that you are always on her side, no matter what happens. =)
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Thank goodness for no panic attacks, we’ll take all the wins we can get. To manage the dread, if it helps you to pray for her or send a loving-kindness meditation her way, etc., or of course just do the usual stuff to burn it off. Count your breaths, exercise, walk in nature, pet a derpy but cute animal, you know. ETA and of course vent here, like @Armetus said! We have Hinder-90 on tap.
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It does help and thanks to you both. I’m also thinking of posting a modified version of this on Reddit and seeing what advice I can get there.
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I’m a planner by nature and I like to have contingencies in place for a lot of situations (case in point, I’ve got a starter obit ready if my family needs it).
That said, I’ve been working hard to not stress myself out over things that haven’t happened yet. Despite desperately wanting to have something ready, I realized that I’m going to have to deal with something when it happens, so why put myself through dealing with it twice (and then some)?
I know that saying and doing are two different animals, but hopefully that idea can help reduce some anxiety in the meantime. Getting it out of your head and written down will hopefully help, too.
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Anxiety is through the roof today. Yesterday, my daughter told me that the ‘popular kids’ found out she had a girlfriend and started making fun of her. She’s been surprisingly mature about it. She’s unhappy but she’s not really worried about it like I am, but I can’t stop worrying about it.
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Unfortunately, nothing we can do/say to stop you from worrying…I think it’s part and parcel to parenthood? 
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I know, but I will be on tenterhooks until 5 when I get home.
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Why is it that SAD rears its ugly head on beautiful, blue sky days? I even went for a walk earlier, but I can feel it digging in its nasty little talons. I feel like I want to hide myself away in a very small box until it’s gone. I hope that will be soon.
(I’ve been through this before and know it will run its course. In the meantime, I’m just posting to let others whose brains are similarly inclined to be dickweeds know I’m there in their tiny box in solidarity.)
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Although it IS absurdly difficult to be a queer kid, the fact that she’s already openly discussing the issue with you is a very good sign. When I was a kid, I couldn’t talk to my parents about my abuse because the topic of sexuality at home was a big restricted no-go zone. If she’s open about it, and taking a mature standpoint, I think your anxiety should have a cuppa tea and read the paper until you get to talk to your daughter tonight.
As someone who works with Trans* and non-binary kids, a couple suggestions:
- Be sure she has a way to creatively express her feelings about this. Art, poetry, dance, music, drama, it all helps to keep things from getting bottled up, and you don’t want the cork flying out at the wrong time.
- Let her know she has every right to feel upset about it; this is not the time to tell her to keep a stiff upper lip
- And as terrible as the saying is, it WILL make her stronger, IF she has strong support systems to help get her through this tough period. It sounds like she already does, and if you’re half as good a parent as you are a MSTie, she’ll have good people on her side.
Best of luck to her; please let her know she’s not alone, other people far away are on her side solidly.
I’ve basically felt this way for a countless number of years now, I empathize! I’ll keep my Discord open today if you need someone to watch an MST3K episode with, so hit me up if you’re hankerin’!
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She loves to draw. She spends a ton of time drawing. So that’s not a problem. Thanks for the kind words.
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I would just like to request extra hugs this week. 
The declined in household living beings has got me intermittently tearing up.
Thanks fam! 
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Grief just plain sucks until it sucks less. 
A round of your coping mechanism of choice, on me.
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My daughter got diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum yesterday. It wasn’t really a surprise and I’m not upset or anything, but it cements my worries about her future. She is very high-functioning and she’s not unintelligent, but she still has trouble with some basic things. I think she could learn to take care of herself, but it’s going to take work.
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Do you have any books you might recommend? We’re looking into it now. It’s hard because there are organizations that claim to help autistic kids, but actually are not helpful at all. I would rather have a book that someone on the spectrum themselves recommends than anything else. There’s one I just read about called What Every Autistic Girl Wishes Her Parents Knew, a collection of essays by autistic women with parenting advice that I am definitely going to get.
Also, my wife is a library administrator and I suggested they do a display for parents of autistic kids, which will involve purchasing new titles, so suggestions are welcome.
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The author of this was further along the spectrum than I am, but there was still a lot to relate to.
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Awesome! Thanks!
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We were talking about people reclaiming bigoted words (gay people reclaiming the F-word for example) and my daughter said that her friend told her that my daughter could reclaim the R-word because she’s autistic. I would have given her friend a really stern talking-to if I had been there and I had to let my daughter know what that word means and why, even if it were an appropriate word, it would not apply to her. I’m appalled that she thinks of herself that way. If you didn’t know her, you’d think she was a weird but basically intelligent kid.
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