Monday, November 20, 2006

Anxiety Crisis: Family and Friends Visiting

Anxiety CrisisA cousin and an old friend of mine came over to stay with me for a period of time. My cousin is starting a new business in the city and ask me if he could stay for a period of time (couple of months maybe), and so my friend, she comes from another country and decided to come over to "start a new life", that is when we think we can run away from ourselves, I mean, some times we think we can go some where else and things will change, like Confucious said: "No matter where you go, you'll still be there".

I have been living alone for quite a period of time in my life now, I am used to it, and I enjoy it, so having people at my house now has created some type of an anxiety crisis. Most of all it has to do with my friend, she came over in some type of a crisis too, the difference is that I am many steps away from her: I have my own place, I have a job, I take care of myself, I exercise, I have a healthy lifestyle, I am in therapy every week, I have projects, I have a life...

My friend is just going to start her own process, I wanted to help her because in a way I feel she did it with me when I needed it, so now is the time for me to try to help her. But this has created a crisis in me, she has been here with me for a few days now and she just gets on my nerves. I am offering a free place to stay, free meals, and the basic things you need in life, but she doesn’t show any sign of doing anything for her life, she has to start to look for a job, that is the most important thing right now, but I don’t see her doing it, or at least to start preparing herself for the process, she has to start looking at newspapers, classifieds, asking questions about it, etc. But all she does is watch TV and chat on the Internet.

That has me very anxious, I just don’t know how to handle the situation, even though I try to understand her crisis and what she is going through right now.

So I am trying to be patient and calm myself down, wait for a few more days and see if she has a positive reaction and starts doing what she has to do, else I am not going to stand for this anymore, I will sit down with her and talk about the situation with her and how it is affecting my own life.

1 comment:

Dave B. said...

Your last paragraph pretty much sums up what you need to do. Wait a while longer and if things don't change sit her down and have a chat.

As someone who has lived alone and who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to your situation. It can't be an easy one to deal with. You're a real stand-up friend for being there for her. Good for you.

D.