8/20 So in crowds, or even small groups, I can't follow a conversation that isn't directed clearly and directly to me, or where multiple people cross-talk.

This is incredibly #socially #isolating. It's a feeling of not really being there, not experiencing what is going on.

#SocialIsolation

Hey, @CNN! #Stop #promoting the #racist trope and use of the word #marijuana. Unless you’re speaking in #Spanish, your promotion of the word continues to associate the #medicine with the #racist history that threatens to undermine our #democracy today.

Tell your #journalists and #writers to get over themselves and stop #isolating & #insulting us.

Recreational marijuana use: CNN medical analyst urges caution | CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/health/marijuana-addiction-wellness/index.html

Lauren Eggenberger, 3rd year Southern #Medical Program student based at #UBC Okanagan published #research examining #ramifications of #maternal evacuation—those who need to #travel to give birth. Only 4 of 33 communities in #NWT have #maternity care - 40%+ of #women must travel at least 100km.

"For many years, #perinatal travel has been an #oppressive and #isolating process for #Dene , #Métis and #Inuvialuit women in the #NorthwestTerritories "

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-indigenous-women-outsized-hardships-birth.html

#Indigenous #WomensMonth

I've been learning a lot about #narcissism lately because of the fact that my last #abuser was a #covert #narcissist.

I've also been well aware of how extensively I was used as a #bulldog and as a #sledgehammer. My abuser would #gaslight and #guilt me into attacking other folks that I had no issue with because they were hurt by the #target (either today or 20 years ago) and deserved some sort of #punishment.

Today I finally found some #insight into my role as a self-serving #enabler, a person who enables others' narcissistic #abuse because, although I too was being #abused (and pretty fucking badly), I received some benefit from the relationship with the narcissist that led me not only to stay but also to throw others under the bus in order to maintain that #toxic #relationship. All because of that perceived benefit.

I'd say "I feel attacked," but I'm taking this pretty seriously because it's a pattern I replayed with my mother earlier in life, enabling her grandiose narcissism by attacking the people who "hurt" her.

What benefit, then, was so important that I was willing to sell my soul for it? My abuser gave me a lot of #attention during a time when I felt incredibly #alone. My abuser also curated and eagerly moderated my relationships with their #friends and #family. And when I didn't or couldn't behave by their standards, they pulled away, often taking their friends and family with them and #isolating me in a state where I didn't really have the #spoons left (due to the #abuse) to build any relationships away from them.

My abuser used this power to great effect once I decided I was no longer tolerating or #enabling their behavior, cutting me off from everyone I'd known and cared about and #lying about their abuse of me, claiming instead that I was the abuser and they the #victim (they've had a long-standing pattern of #victimization by practically everyone in their life, whether or not these people were actually #abusive).

It took a very, very long time to rid myself of the now-#internalized belief that I was to #blame for everything that had happened to me, and I couldn't have done it without my friends and the #mental #health #professionals that treated me.

Having been responsible for hurting so many others because of my fear of losing all of the social connections and relationships that my abuser moderated sucks to know. I've apologized to some of the folks I hurt in my enabling of my abusers narcissistic abuse of others, but there's many more who I'll never get the chance to apologize to. And these folks have the absolute right to not want me in their lives ever again. Enablers are awful people sometimes, and I was pretty fucking awful when my abuser demanded it. I can #empathize with myself, but none of this excuses me, and I am owed nothing by those I've hurt for my own benefit within a toxic relationship.

I don't know when, if ever, I'll be able to wholly #forgive myself either. Maybe one day, but only by keeping the energy I have now and continuing to #grow as the person I've decided to be going forward, during this novel (for me) absence of narcissists in my life. And by making amends by raising up and serving those around me now to the best of my ability.

#Healing is a long, painful road, and it's hard to imagine what its end may look like. Maybe it never reaches one. I can live with that.

#joan #psychology

nkvssp.thecomicseries.com/comics/319

What can be done?

#kitteh #puppy #kitsmum #tuesdaymotivations #webcomics #webcomicchat #comicbookhour #comics #nkvssp #ninjacats #isolating #phonecall #health #grief #facts #TuesdayMotivaton #tellher #talkaboutit #loss #tuesdayMorning #strategize #vibecheck

https://nkvssp.thecomicseries.com/comics/318

Talk about it. It matters

#kitteh #puppy #KitsMum #tuesdayvibe #webcomics #webcomicchat #comicbookhour #comics #NKVSSP #talk #share #grief #loss #TuesdayFeeling #talkaboutit #ninjacats #isolating #secret #phonecall #tuesdaymotivations #vibecheck

Finally tested positive for #covid and #isolating allowee me to read this novel. I had just had a chat about #UStreet and the historic role of #howarduniversity with one of my former students and here it all is! #blackhistory #adoption #elite @bookstodon

#Outlander and #Gaslit are done.
Now half way through #TheSerpentQueen. Its strangely compelling.
#CovidJail #Isolating

If you're in Australia, many public libraries have a FREE homebound book delivery program for people who can't physically get to the library. Volunteers drop books around every 14 days, and take the old books away, and you can do it without face-to-face contact (just leave the books in a rainproof plastic box on your doormat the night before.) You choose the books that you want via the libraries online catalogue, or you can ask "choose some graphic novels for me" "choose some science fiction for me" etc and let the library pick your books.

If this is you, it's worth contacting your local library and asking.

#PublicLibraries
#Libraries
#HouseBound
#Homebound
#Books
#Isolating

I'd like to give a massive shout-out to all the people who are #voluntarily #isolating because of #COVID19. As predicted, it appears it's all on *us*, now...

#COVIDIsNotOver

I feels hard striking a balance between ventilating my room and being cold, or closing the windows and letting my body be comfortable to help recover from #Covid...

What has other people's experiences been when #isolating in an apartment with others? Did you successfully not infect your housemates?