School Runs!!!!!!!

[blue]

It has taken me a good year to find the courage to wait outside my kids school to pick them up at home time. This week my confidence has gone, im not sure what has happened but all my old anxieties have come back, and i dread walking towards the other parents, my heart pounds and they all turn around and snigger because i look so pannicky.

I was suppose to get a job, but no one wants to know its put me on such a downer all my old anxietys have come back. All the things i have worked so hard to be able to do without getting nervouse, im finding hard again. I even got nervouse passing people on the street today.

I used to be really bad and i would have anxiety all day about doing the school runs, then gradually over time ive been getting better, untill this week when its all come back.

I feel so depressed, i think it was brought on by the stress of not being able to work.

The rest I can handle but being anxious about the school runs gets me so down. I can see all the bitchy mums looking at me and laughing to each other, I feel so pannicked my face twitches and i fidget.

Who wants a mum like that.

 

[kayelle]

Wow, congratulations on your improvement!
And DON'T get down on yourself for a week when you disimprove. It's completely normal, everyone improves and then has a few days when they go right back to being really bad. If you're not hard on yourself about it, if you allow the anxiety to be bad for a week, maybe two weeks, and then go right back to fighting the anxiety, I find that that helps me a lot.

I hope that helps a little bit! Good luck! And good job on improving so much!

 

[cobalt_bluester]

hi there. I totally sympathise with your problems but please hang in there and try and focus on the things you feel that could get your confidence back again. take small baby steps that's the only way to do it. also, are you taking any meds as I think this could well help you.

 

[blue]

Thanks so much for your replies.
Cobalt_bluester - Im not taking any meds at the moment, im really thinking of going back on them, I dont seem to handle life very well. I was on citalopram, it didnt seem to help much. What would you recremend?

Im still finding it really difficult, I dont know whats wrong with me at the moment , I can feel fine in the morning then really anxious by the afternoon.

I think it may be depression as well as when I feel anxious I also feel like crying.

I hope it goes away soon, I feel like such a mess.

Thanks again for your replies it helps so much.

 

[shrnwarks]

The dreaded school run! I remember it so well. I would always turn up a little bit late so i didnt have to stand with all the other parents or hide round the corner so no one could see me! I wasnt diagnosed with SP then so i didnt know why i felt the way i did, i thought i was just a bit of a freak lol Thankfully my children are all now teenagers so i dont have to do the school run any more but i know excatly how you feel.

I also took citalopram which didnt really do anything for me. I was then put on venlafaxine which i have now been taking for about 5 years. This has greatly improved my anxiety but i still do have bouts of depression from time to time where i stay in bed for days.

Anyway...hope things do start to get better for you )

 

[SmartCat]

I can relate, I find the other parents incredibly intimidating, but I'm working on it, I found a nice woman who is totally natural and puts me at ease and we find ourselves laughing a lot while we are waiting for the kids.

Next time you go, have a look around for other parents who look a little uncomfortable, are standing alone and smile at them, the next time you see them say hi, then the next make some comment about the weather and see if you can get to a point where there are at least one or two people you can say hi to or exchange pleasantries with. Even if you don't chat to them it helps to see a friendly face.

The other thing about going with a plan to make friends is that it helps you to not focus on how you feel inside, because your busy looking at other people, trying to figure out which ones you'd consider saying hi to. There are bound to be a few people who are not in a clique, maybe you don't register them because you too busy focusing on the larger groups of parents who make you feel insecure.

I wish you luck with it, but don't forget that this is just a setback, we all have them.

 

[Jodie-Tyler]

"Who would want a mum like that?"

I WOULD! im 15, and my mum doesnt understand how hard skool is for me.
and i wud love a mum like you. Cuz you wudnt pressure ur children to go out and b with their friends. my mum does. But i say no, i dont want to.
Please dont think ur a bad mum. Trust me your not! *hug*

Perhaps u cud take a book with you, and read while u wait, so u rnt looking a the other mums, and it will take ur mind of em.
i read at break, so im not jst sat there assuming tht other girls are thinking im werid.