An island of peace

I've had a traumatic day. A bittersweet day.

Now, I feel very proud of myself. I've been working hard the past 3 months to learn ways to set boundaries, manage my emotions, communicate better, and be honest with myself and others. I'm on a higher lithium dosage now too, so that helps. My roommate is moving out and decided to not give 30-days notice. Rent is due Monday and he won't pitch in his half. We had a "confrontation" this morning. It ended with him storming out the door just before I completely lost it.

I'm disturbed that I almost lost it. I've been working so hard and I should be better than that. I'm working to have compassion with myself though. No one is perfect and every situation isn't perfect. I wonder to what degree I am disturbed by being angry and having a short temper versus having bi-polar. There is a lot of guilt.

For the first time, in forever, I feel as if I dealt with the situation maturely and rationally. And, I set boundaries that I won't give in with. I have this odd sense of peace that I am no longer giving the other party the power to control me. I have totally accepted whatever decision he makes already. Experiencing this is completely new to me. Normally I'm thrashing, trying to speculate what the next move will be, being totally in anguish and angry that "someone would do this to me". Its a good stress to be dealing with this boundary setting. I'm still terribly angry about it all, but I DON'T FEEL VICTIMIZED!

That was the first half of my day. I then went off to Starbucks, got some tea and read my book, "Buddha's Brain". I've been getting "self-help" books from the library. I view reading them as my daily psych homework or therapy homework. My next chapter was, ironically, on how to "cool the fire" when emotionally charged. It took a while to get through it because I had a lot of applicable subject matter in which to apply the chapter's material to. I'm glad that I did.

My next task on the daily agenda was to try out a weekly discussion group at the Center for transgender. It was a terrifying experience to build up the courage to do even go. When I am really scared or anxious or nervous, I often jump into Bex.

Bex is my strong, independent fighter. Bex is often more courageous than Alex and Vicki are willing to be. Alex and Vicki can be, they just choose not to be. Being tri-gender is not like having multiple personalities, even though it may seem that way. I am one person with one set of beliefs, values, ideas, preferences, characteristics, etc. My gender influences how I react to those beliefs, values, ideas, preferences, etc. So in this case, Bex is more courageous only because hir gender naturally inclines to take advantage of that character trait on a stronger level than Vicki or Alex. Vicki would rather let someone else be courageous but certainly can be just as courageous as Bex if forced into the situation.To be thorough, Alex is probably more courageous than Vicki but less than Bex. Alex tends to be somewhat chivalrous. Bex is kinda like the wood nymph/elf in "In the name of the King" movie played by Kristanna Loken.

Anyway, I had a very positive experience at the discussion group. It was my first time being out to strangers and first time talking about things that have never gotten any further than being thought about. Again, good stress. Half way through, I switched into Alex, which was unusual. Alex rarely comes out in front of other people, especially a group of people. In fact, last week was the first time Alex was "out" in front of a group of people. I intend on going to the group on a regular basis now.

The unfortunate thing about being Alex, today, following this group session, was that I was going to go see the Vagina Monologues. It was good. I enjoyed it. I laughed a lot. I also got an exercise in separating my gender from my sex. So often, we think of our gender as our sex. But I'm watching this show and identifying with the women because I have the same mechanical, physical features. But emotionally and mentally I couldn't identify with them. I could empathize and even remember memories of being/thinking/feeling similar situations when I am Vicki though. I went to the performance with the bf of a friend of mine. Later we got into a discussion and he was amazed that my guy-gender thoughts & feelings completely mirrored his own of the performance. To be honest, I was a bit amazed too, cuz I don't usually get a chance to "calibrate" my guy-thoughts with other guys to see if they are "normal". Honestly, I think I would have gotten more out of the performance if I had been Vicki. But all in all, I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing it again someday.

Its been a stressful day, but mostly good stress. I've had a lot of emotions come up and I've been able to deal with them constructively. I've had a lot of new situations that I have had to negotiate and I didn't break down, rather grew stronger. I leave with one of my favorite quotes....

"I beg you.... to have patience with everything unresolved in you heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms of books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer..."

And that is what I'm doing now. I've living my way into my body, mind, and spirit. I don't know what kind of man Alex will become, nor what kind of woman Vicki. I don't know what gender Bex is. I don't know if I will recover from my bi-polar nor will I know what kind of damage the Celiac and Bi-polar have done to me. I've search for these answers and only gained misery. I've spent 22 years asking WHY? and HOW? and WHEN? and so many more. But when I stop asking them, I find sensations and experiences and this intricate dance withing myself. Sometimes its a balancing act. Other times its a dialog or an interplay. Its this mindfulness, and sometimes over-analysis, that has helped me find a nugget of peace in a swirl of insurmountable challenges. A small island of peace that has never existed before. I'm a new person, and every day is proving that now!