Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
Join Sola Scriptura for a discussion on the subject
https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
Strengthening families through biblical principles.
Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.
Read daily articles from Focus on the Family in the Marriage and Parenting Resources forum.
Thanks for your prayers.
Yeah all kinds of stress and exhaustion can result in mental instability. Self discipline and self control are hard work for our brains, so when our resources are exhausted those are the first things to fail.
I read your prayer request thread and I know you too are struggling with exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Although I didn't write anything I did pray for you and I hope you'll find ways to relax and recover. Because you will be of no use to your family when you're totally burnt out. :-(
My breaking point is really not very far. I've always been rather unstable when it comes to human relationships.
Oh well if only I had taught him anything. Unfortunately he'll see my irrational behaviour as a confirmation of his view and will be less likely to take my argumentation seriously. Throwing stuff like a 5 year old child isn't really something that convinces people. (He's just lucky my aim is so bad. And he's lucky he was out of range for a punch.)
Anyway, since he's also a christian brother there must be an other (non-violent) way of dealing with him? Especially after that incident... he's in my home group after all. Today at the end I told him to "f--- off" (well that's at least the closest translation)...
Well on the one hand, honestly, it feels awesome to be angry and attack those that hurt me. Part of me felt good seeing all the destruction and mess I made. On the other hand hatred and anger are the path to the dark side of the force, right? Christians shouldn't feel like that, should they?
Hm I understand that self harm is quite shocking to outsiders.
And it's true I need to get rid of it. That's one of the things I need to focus on.
But the truth is, hurting myself physically isn't the problem, it's a solution. A very dangerous and misguided solution, but in that moment it's an effective way of relieving emotional pain. And it's the only available way in such a stressful situation. Part of the therapy I just started will be to make me learn other less destructive ways to handle my feelings.
But the true problem isn't the self harm, but the pain inside. Self harm actually makes me feel better for the moment. (Though that bump on my head really hurts now. And the scratches will be hard to explain at work tomorrow.)
Thanks again for praying. If you want, pray that God teaches me to care for other people (or interesting things and projects) rather than getting too absorbed in self-pity.
I'll keep praying for you, too!
Always great talking to you. Wish I could learn more about your life instead of talking about myself all the time.
This afternoon I was thinking about admittig myself to a psychiatric ward - after slapping myself, cutting myself, scratching my forehead with my fingernails, willfully hitting my head against a heavy oak wood restaurant table and throwing my plate at another person. Not sure I hit him but my flying plate mowed down and destroyed pretty much everything on the table.
My mood has been bad for a few days, I already lost control of myself and slapped myself on thursday and on friday, but I'd attributed to being sleep deprived and exhausted after the long week of work, exercising, frustration with university bureaucracy, and too little sleep.
But even after a calm saturday I was still feeling lousy this morning, but I tried to somehow get my mood into a better shape, focusing on good things (like the sunshine, attending church service, and so on), tried to focus on other things, or tried just to tell myself that I only need to wait it out until things get better naturally. Of course I tried to pray, too, and tried to remember that only God's love matters and I can cling to it until I feel better...
Church service was good (well I felt terrible but the sermon was good), afterward I was invited for lunch in a restaurant by an elderly lady that I'm friends with. Her husband didn't want to join us, but two other guys from our home group came with us. We went to a rather noble restaurant and that's where all that stupid stuff happend just because one of those guys is a judgemental uncompassionate arrogant uneducated buffoon (and because I have the emotional maturity of a 4 year old).
I can't tell you how helpless I feel, having worked on becoming more emotionally stable for such a long time, but in the end all I can do is delay the point of losing control by a few minutes.
All the prayers don't seem to change a thing and all the skills I learned for controling my emotions aren't effective. I know it takes time and practise. But right now I'm a time bomb.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my shrink anyway, and since I can't hide all the bruises and bumps in my face anyway I'm just gonna ask him to admit me to the local psychiatric hospital.
With regards to the self harm, I know exactly where you're coming from. Most of my tattoos on the insides of my arms are to cover many deep self inflicted scars from lit cigarettes butted out on myself when feeling it was all too hard. And yeah, at the time the pain was a rush and momentary release from other things.
Re scratches at work? I suppose as a Christian, telling them you have a new kitten of you fell into a rose bush is out of the question. :biggrin
I agree that admitting yourself to the hospital is what you need to do. They can observe you closely and start you on medication. Wrtie down everything you feel and take it to your counselor. I will be praying for you.
But my favourite course of action would be to learn that I can stabilise my mood with my own behaviour and my own skills.
Most people have learned (usually as kids and teenagers) how to regulate their own emotions so they can live a mostly level-headed life. But I haven't. So I gotta learn it. It's like someone that didn't learn to play a musical instrument as a kid may be bad at music in general, because they didn't learn it at the right age. But they can still learn it as adults, it's just gonna take a lot more conscious effort and time.
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Short (because I'll have to leave in ten minutes) update:
I've been doing very well the last one and a half weeks.
Well I did have pretty extreme mood swings and negative emotions, but no self harm and no "bad" behaviour, most of the time I felt great.
I've seen my shrink again on moday and we agreed that it's pointless to go to a psychiatric hospital right now (because why would you go here for emergency treatment if you feel good?), although I could still do so if I break down again.
On the one hand I'd like to control my mood swings better. On the other hand... maybe it's better to have extreme emotions than to live a shallow life?