Things Which I’m Proud Of

Things which I can be proud of—

1. I’ve found adaptations to minimise the constant stress of external noise from the city-centre street which I live on, so that I mostly don’t notice it.
2. I’ve survived the zombie housemate.
3. I’ve carved out this bubble of peace in my room by using some creativity and ingenuity, being able to live self-sufficiently from the horror of the rest of the house.
4. I’ve survived on a limited, though healthy diet for the last few months, using just my microwave and slow cooker.
5. Before that, I survived the intense stress of having to use the communal areas of the house and be around my incredibly stressful and dysfunctional housemates, and persisted for 9 months with my valiant attempts to keep those areas liveable.
6. I’ve figured out and solved the huge impact of humidity on my daily suffering and comfort, when combined with my dermatitic skin— in winters especially the chronic pain from it was a living nightmare, but this winter I’ve completely avoided eczema so far, and have no more itching than in summer. This is absolutely incredible to me! It’s a total revelation.
7. I have a couple of plants which are thriving in my room, despite the total lack of daylight— I’m using an LED ‘growing’ lamp.
8. I’ve survived a year-long lack of daily sunlight— from keeping my curtains permanently closed because my window faces the street, and it’s very stressful to notice the constant movement, besides the privacy issue. I only get daylight when going outside, which is often only every few days, but I have an LED ‘sunlight’ lamp which in addition to the other lamps, helps a lot.
9. I’ve survived a few suicidal moments and found reasons for hope (mostly in the adaptations above).
10. I managed to get the autism and OCD diagnoses, through some creative thinking and much-appreciated help and generosity from other people.
11. I’ve survived (and continue to survive) all of that, even attempting to thrive at times, whilst also finding it very hard to relax most of the time.

🌪