Anxiety ruins my life.

I just had a first date with this guy I’ve been talking to, for about a month.

I thought the date went well and I want to see him again.

But immediately, as soon as I said bye to him. My anxiety kicked in.

What if he didn’t like me? What if all the hype of meeting each other after many delayed dates wasn’t worth it for him? He didn’t really have too much physical interaction, wait he doesn’t like me?? Do first dates end with a kiss or hug? I don’t know. I guess he didn’t feel the same way??

What if he doesn’t text me anymore after tonight?

What if he ghosts me (like the other guys)?

What if?

What if ?

What if?

Why do you have to do this to me? Anxiety…why?

Why can’t I focus more on how handsome he is, his smile or his hug? The fact that he said, I’ll talk to you soon. Or that he responded to my text when I got home and texted him thank you for dinner.

No. Because anxiety has to f*cking ruin it.

I didn’t have too much anxiety all day prior to the date.

But anxiety was there waiting for me, as soon as I said bye to him.

I’m tired of feeling this way. I’m tired of my anxious mind diverting my mind towards overthinking and negative thoughts.

I just want to feel okay.

I want to feel like my life is going into a good direction. And not have suspicions that something bad is going to happen when life gets steady.

I hate you anxiety.

-Mel

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I had a panic attack at my cousin’s wedding.

It’s been a couple of months since my last post.

But I thought it was important to share what happened on the day of my cousin’s wedding.

My last post talked about how I felt so out of place and felt like I didn’t belong in my family, when I was at the rehearsal dinner.

So naturally, I already had a lot of anxiety on the day of my cousin’s wedding.

I barely had sleep the night before and it added to the anxiety I already had. I could feel the anxiety of the day before the day even began.

I felt fine that morning, despite the lack of sleep. We spent the morning in the penthouse where all the women got their hair and make-up ready. I spent the majority of that time on my phone, which helped my anxiety. And after getting my make-up done and getting ready for the wedding. I thought I was going to be fine.

I did not know where to go, where to sit or stand before the ceremony. I felt so strange not having anyone to interact with….and my anxiety grew. I finally just sat where most of my relatives were and thought I would be okay.

I cried when the doors opened and I saw my beautiful cousin walk down the aisle. That moment really hit me. I felt a sudden rush of memories, from the time we were little to the present time, flashed before my eyes. I was really close to her when we were younger and like with everyone else, we got distant as we grew older.

Once the ceremony ended and the cocktail hour started. That’s when the anxiety kicked in. I didn’t know where to go. I felt my heart beating quickly and I started to feel so confused. Because I had no where to go and I had no where to escape.

I was guided to go outside to take photos with the family and the bride.

One moment that struck me was the girl cousins were all gathered and they called me in. And I thought it was for everyone & no one else came up with me. And I thought I made a mistake because I wasn’t a bridesmaid. I walked out and they were saying no I’m part of the picture.

It was a nice gesture to include me as part of a photo. But looking at the pictures now and seeing how I’m the only one that doesn’t have the same dress hurts. What hurts even more is looking at my smile in that photo. I was hurting so much, but I had to try so hard to fake that smile.

Once we were done, we took our seats for dinner. I was in the back and close to the bathrooms. I sat with my cousins, my cousins kids and my brother. So again, I thought I was fine.

But throughout dinner, everyone at my table would leave for various reasons. To help with the DJ, to take photo booth photos, to get a drink, to go outside and the two little girls were just running around. I would look around and see all the girl cousins at the photo booth together & that they all sat next to each other too. A majority of that dinner, I sat by myself in the corner. And that set my anxiety into high gear.

I didn’t know where to go. I could feel a panic attack coming. And I didn’t know what to do. I figured that it was best to go to the bathroom. And as soon as I closed that stall door, I started crying, hyperventilating and having a panic attack.

If I could, I would have stayed in that bathroom all night. It was the only place that felt safe.

I kept on going back and forth from my table to the bathroom to cry or continue my panic attack. Or the seats outside the bathroom, which didn’t feel too safe because everyone was coming in and out of there.

Towards the end of the night before the dancing began, I become overstimulated as well as having a panic attack. If I was at the table, I would cover my ears and close my eyes. If not, I was in the bathroom crying or sitting in the seats outside the bathroom covering my ears.

I couldn’t leave the venue on my own or even to step outside. We were in the heart of downtown and on a Friday night, it probably wasn’t safe for me to go outside on my own.

My mom could sense that I was very uncomfortable and asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel (which was 2 blocks down). I said yes, hoping my dad would come too. But he stayed. My anxiety increased as my mom and I, walked two blocks in downtown. I was trying to speed walk/run to the hotel but couldn’t leave my mom behind.

Once we got to the hotel and got safely back to our hotel room, I felt like I was able to breathe again. Along with some donuts we had in our room, I felt a lot better.

I felt so uncomfortable in a wedding where half the guests were my family.

I prepared myself for weeks in therapy for that day.

But no matter how much I prepared, it wasn’t enough to help my anxiety or help with my panic attack.

Ever since that day, I always think about my future wedding. And how I won’t have any bridesmaids or maid of honors, and it breaks my heart. All my friendships and relationships with cousins diminished. And if they aren’t there for me for my tough mental days (or at least talk to me), then why would I have them as part of my “special” day??

I had to completely take myself out of my comfort zone for that wedding. If it wasn’t family, I wouldn’t have gone to that wedding.

I always have to sacrifice my mental health, my comfort level for my family. Going to family events when I feel uncomfortable.

I wish they would go out of their comfort zones for me. Ask me how I’m truly feeling, asking about mental health. If I have a panic attack, just being present. Or just including me in things as their family because they WANT TO AND NOT BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO.

-Mel

ONE YEAR: Since everything changed.

March 13, 2020. I remember that day so distinctly.

Prior to that day, I had seen what COVID did to everyone else in the world with: temperature checks, panic buying, lockdowns and quarantines.

And that day…. was the day, when it came to my part of the world.

We had a teacher development day on that particular Friday. The virus was in the back of everyone’s minds as we were doing ice-breakers, having meetings and working in our classrooms.

You could tell in everyone’s faces that they were worried.

During lunch, we found out that all the school districts in our area were going to be closed. I vividly remember that lunch, that quiet lunch. Everyone was on their phones, and we all gave each other looks when we saw the news.

But, we still didn’t know what was going to happen to us. We aren’t part of a school district and we weren’t sure if we were part of that closure. The school didn’t know too.

I remember leaving work and calling my mom, asking her what she wanted for dinner since I was off early. She said to pick up something fast and easy to cook from the grocery store.

Little did I know that a trip to get one thing at the grocery store, would lead to me realize that this pandemic is f*cking real.

That was my first experience with seeing panic buying. I saw first-hand the empty shelves and refrigerators and I started to panic. Prior to that shopping trip, I had only seen panic buying on social media. I don’t remember what I got, I think I just got one of the few items that was left. Funny enough, while walking around the store just to find ANYTHING, I hear on the speakers “it’s the end of the world as we know it”. R.E.M.’s song “It’s the end of the world” was playing and it felt like something out of the movies. As I was seeing the empty shelves and as that song was playing, I felt like I was going to have a panic attack in the middle of the store.

That’s when I knew that things were going to change and this virus was something much more bigger, than I thought it was going to be.

That day was the beginning of everything that changed.

Our lives changed after that day.

And it’s crazy to know that a year later, we are still in that pandemic. It’s not as intense as last year, but COVID is still around.

And unfortunately, a year later…COVID is affecting my aunt and uncle. And my uncle is in the hospital because of COVID.

I say it so many times.

It’s been a rough year. And it sucks that it continues to be rough.

Additionally, I have been teaching in a pandemic for a year.

On top of that….I’ve been teaching BY MYSELF IN A PANDEMIC FOR A YEAR.

On Thursday March 12, 2020: I had a full class of 24 students.

Then on the following Monday, March 16, 2020: I had 4 students. I had 20 LESS students.

Additionally, little did I know that my co-teacher (at that time) would work for a week and ditch me. He didn’t come to work and 3 months later, he finally put in his 2 weeks.

During that time, I was talking to a guy on a dating app. And little did I know that we would be talking for months, meet up for a couple of times. And then I first began to understand what the term “GHOSTING” means, because he was the first one to ghost me. And that wouldn’t be the only time in the time of being in a pandemic. Because it would appear that dating in a pandemic just means guys want a “casual” relationship, but then you ghost you weeks later.

ONE YEAR LATER:

I went to a couple of stores today, wearing a mask and consistently putting on hand sanitizer. I was keeping my distance and stepping on the signs to keep a distance from others. The shelves were shocked and no one was panic buying. I was standing in a line to get inside one store. AND IT WASN’T WEIRD…it was normal.

We actually had a Staff Development Day yesterday. Some of the teachers including myself, had a CPR/First Aid class. No worries, just taking a regular class at a distance from others and wearing masks.

I have a new co-teacher. However, we aren’t co-teaching together. We have a split classroom with our own classes.

After my most recent “ghosting” situation that put me in a deep depression (because I really liked him). I am taking a long break from dating apps, which I probably explained in a recent post. And I think it’s best to not go on them for the rest of the year because it just completely diminished my self-esteem.

Life has changed so much within a year.

I don’t know if it changed for the better or the worst.
But it definitely impacted my life (and everyone else’s).

One year of living in a pandemic.

CRAZY.

-MEL

I’m Fooling Myself.

I lied.

I wrote a post this morning and basically deceived myself thinking that I’m okay. And going through all these obstacles is okay. And it’s not.

Today was hard. And it was supposed to be an easy day. I got stuck in traffic, which we haven’t had traffic in the mornings for about a year due to the pandemic. When I saw the traffic, I immediately “OF COURSE this would happen” (sarcastically and angry at the same time). I just barely made it to grab some coffee and get to work on time.

My co-teacher next door was out sick , same with my reliable floater teacher. So I had to help with the sub and an assistant teacher from a different classroom (that doesn’t spend too much time in our classes). I was worried about how her students would react, but they were fine. And it was my class that had a difficult time. Literally, nothing changed in our classroom and they acted like our routines didn’t exist and that it was okay to not listen to me. I was frustrated.

I’m already having a hard week with family contracting COVID and in the hospital. And worrying about them and the rest of my relatives.

Then my f*cking therapy session got cut short due to connection issues.
Work has been more frustrating than ever.

I’ll probably write a blog post about it on Saturday (when it’s exactly a year that my life changed due to COVID).

But I’ve been teaching during a pandemic…by myself….for a year.

It doesn’t get any easier.

And I really understand why so many teachers have quit, especially in the past year.

It’s soo hard.

It’s not fair. I know that every teacher has different experiences teaching during this time.

But thinking about my experience in the past year, it was not fair. And it’s not okay. And it’s not okay that I stayed and continue to stay.

I’m not okay.

What I’ve been through is not okay.

What I’m going through is not okay.

& I need to stop thinking that things will get better someday. It sounds harsh, but it has NOT gotten better. And I’m just fooling myself that there is light at the end of the tunnel. BUT I’m just going through the same f*cking cycle over and over again.

There’s no light.

What’s terrifies me is that I see all these posts about people getting engaged, married or having a baby.

And I don’t see that for myself.

I don’t think I’ll ever get married.

Or start a family.

And that’s all I wanted since I was about 5 years old.

I don’t understand why I get put in these stressful situations.
I don’t understand why people just leave me with no explanation.

I don’t understand why these things happen to me.

I don’t understand.

I want to feel better.

But I need to stop fooling myself that I’m okay and things will get better.

Because the more I fool myself, then the more that I’ll feel worse and things won’t get better.

I’m not okay.

I’m not okay.

-MEL

How to react to unfair situations.

Last month was horrible. Oh wait, life has not stopped being horrible since 2019 ( and basically my whole life).

Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for everything in my life. I understand that others have it worse than me.

It just feels like the universe just keeps hitting me with hard situations, with unfair situations, with an overwhelming amount of situations at the same time.

And I’m f*cking tired of it.

Last month, I was extremely depressed to the point where I wanted to act upon my suicidal thoughts. Another guy that I was talking to and was starting to get to know just stops talking to me out of nowhere. And this guy was different because I really liked him. At the same time, I was extremely burnt out at work and I felt I needed more support than I could get. With all these overwhelming feelings going on, in my personal life and in my work life.

My choice to react to those situation, was completely see the negative side of things. And it led to a dark depression, feeling worthless and wanting to end my life.

As March was approaching, I realized how horrible I felt during February. I know that the situations that occurred were sh*tty. But I couldn’t do anything about the situations. I couldn’t control what happened. My only control is my reaction towards it. And my choices led me to feel so bad about myself.

I wanted a fresh start to March. I wanted to practice more self-care. I wanted to look at different perspectives of a situation before automatically reacting to the situation.

But March immediately hit me hard.

My aunt and uncle got COVID. It affected my uncle very badly to the point where he’s in the hospital. We had a family zoom call with all my relatives twice over the weekend. It was very hard to watch my family members cry. It was extremely hard to watch my dad cry about my uncle.

I went to work with a heavy heart this week. I couldn’t control my tears before work and during work thinking about my uncle.

But I still had to go to work.

Then it just felt like the week hit me hard every day this week and it’s only Thursday.

I’m having a hard time with my class lately. Because I have students who need extra attention for different reasons and I can’t give it to them…..because I’m by myself. So they act out. And I found out on Tuesday that a student is coming back. A student who also needs some extra attention too. And I’m already stressed out about it. But my choice to react is to let my assistant director know about my concerns.

My co-teacher left early yesterday because she was sick. So the floater teacher (aka my savior) had to be in her class yesterday. But I found out that they BOTH won’t be there today.

So my choice is: life is already sh*tty. Let’s get this sh*t over with, the best that I can. Because that’s all I can do.

Gotta go.

-MEL

I WANT A BREAK FROM MYSELF.

I think I posted awhile back about writing letters to people in my life, without actually sending it to them. It was a way to let out my feelings for someone and an outlet to express what I would like to tell someone.

There are many reasons why I don’t send it. And basically, I would think “nothing will change if I share this letter to them”.

I was accepting the fact that the guy that I was talking to….stopped talking to me. I accepted reality, and I was numb for awhile. My therapist last week told me to write a “letter” to him and see if anything else comes up when I write it. For the longest time, I didn’t want to write it. I felt “fine”/numb and I’ve cried so much in the past couple of weeks. I didn’t want to open up that box again and let those feelings out. I just wanted to pretend I was okay for as long as I could.

During those times, I just wanted to add another factor to distract my mind from that guy. So I just downloaded dating apps again, JUST TO TALK TO SOMEONE. This is what happens when you don’t have any friends or anyone to talk to.

Tonight, I was just scrolling along. And yup….there was the guy that I was talking to.

(Little or more like BIG back story: We had been talking since November. Met on a dating app. I didn’t think he was too interested in me since he barely responded. But he asked me to hang out and we did. We talked on and off afterwards. We would Facetime once a week. Then on my winter break, we met up again. I had no idea how he felt about me and I wasn’t too sure how I felt about him as well. But then we kissed, and it felt right. Like it felt like there were “sparks”. We tried to meet up a couple of times afterwards, but after a couple COVID scares, we couldn’t see each other. We Face timed and HE was the one that said that we should see each other over the 3 day weekend. But he didn’t text me, he never communicated with me at all during that weekend. I had a rough work week prior to the long weekend and depression came back into my life. I texted him the following Wednesday because I wanted to give the last word. I said that I wish he would just let me know if he couldn’t hang out. (Common courtesy to contact someone when you made plans with them). If it was at all, my fault that I apologize. Wished him well. He replied that he apologized and that he was going through some personal things. Also, that we should talk sometime and go over things. Well it’s been almost 2 weeks later and we haven’t talked. And now I see him on Tinder…..).

So I wrote a letter to him that I won’t send.

As I was writing the letter, I suddenly became overwhelmed.

And I said “CAN I JUST TAKE A BREAK FROM ME? PLEASE!”

I want a break from my life, from my house, my job…..my mind and my thoughts.

I just need to get away. Not anywhere in particular. Just away from myself.

I have been recording myself lately while I cry, have a panic attack, get depressed.

Because I just want to see something that others don’t see.

I know it’s me….but it’s so heartbreaking.

Sometimes I do a time lapse and I can see when my heart completely breaks as I’m writing.

For GOODNESS SAKES,

JUST BE KIND TO ANYONE YOU MEET. BE RESPECTFUL.
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT ANYONE IS GOING THROUGH.
YOU THINK THAT YOU NOT CONTACTING SOMEONE ISN’T A BIG DEAL, BUT WHAT IF EVERYONE IN THAT PERSON’S LIFE DOESN’T CONTACT THEM AS WELL.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL.

I don’t know what to do anymore…

Thank goodness I have therapy tomorrow.

-MEL

BE KIND TO EVERYONE.

*TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE*

I’m tired of getting no closure.

I can’t count the amount of times that I got left (aka ghosted) with no explanation. It just happened to me yet again with a guy that I was talking to. But this time, without any warning. He asked me to hang out over the weekend and then he ghosted me.

I’m left with so many questions & I never get the answers.

It’s not just with guys that I’ve talked to, it has happened with friends and my cousins.

They just don’t respond back & it’s been months up to years now.

I DO BLAME MYSELF.

These individuals are from different phases, stages, areas, years of my life.

And they all do the same thing. So it’s most likely, that it has to do with me.

It’s me & it’s my fault.

Honestly, I’ve been suicidal lately. (I’m safe, I’m not going to do it. I just want the pain to end).

I had suicidal thoughts, especially going into a dark depression on Saturday.

I have so much more to say, but my mind and body is so numb that I can’t find the right words.

I just wanted to say: CHECK UP ON EVERYONE. If you are close to them or not close. Say one nice thing to everyone you come across. Because you never know what they are going through.

Additionally, if you know someone that needs help. Please check up on them.

It’s so hard going through this alone.

That all the friends, guys and cousins who were part of my life…..left me (when they knew my struggles with depression and anxiety( and now I have no support and no one to go to. Which makes my struggles with mental health 1 million times harder.

“BE KIND FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE”

-MEL

F*CK. Depression is hard.

As I have probably mentioned I have experienced more anxiety symptoms in the past 5 years than depression.

And depression is hard.

I was going to write about other topics today on this blog.

But I’m f*cking depressed.

I kinda felt OFF this week. I was irritable. I was hungry, but had no appetite. I had the opposite of my sleeping problem, where I would just sleep early almost every night. I would sleep 8-9 hours these past couple of weeks.

Last night, I just felt so strange. I had a difficult week at work and I was anxiously waiting for a response back from the guy that I’m currently talking to. This strange feeling was so familiar. But now I know that it was the beginning of depression.

I haven’t felt the “rock bottom” component of depression in many years. And I feel like I blocked that feeling from myself. So much that depression and deep depression feels like it’s something new.

I started doing my daily journals last night while listening to my “mental health” playlist. I desperately wanted to cry in hopes to make me feel better. And then the song ” After the Storm” from Mumford & Songs began playing. There is this one lyric that I always have in the back of my mind when I need it. And that lyric immediately made me cry, ” But there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.”.

This cry was different. It wasn’t an anxiety cry, it was depression.

I was able to fall asleep and sleep through the night ( *knock on wood). But when I woke up, I had no urgency to get up as I usually do. I felt like I didn’t have any ounce of energy. However, it wasn’t the same exhaustion as I usually get from work. It was an emotional exhaustion.

I was able to get some cleaning done and do my laundry. I took a shower, because I had planned to go to a store just to get out of the house. But after lunch, I just sat in my chair in my room with a constant worry and looked at my phone for any text from him. I knew that getting out of the house would make me feel better, but I couldn’t.

Then I laid on my bed and fell asleep. I had 8 hours of sleep last night, I had caffeine in the morning and I wasn’t ill. So it was very strange that I took a nap in the middle of the afternoon that didn’t have to do with a lack of sleep or being sick.

Again, it was depression.

After a couple of hours of feeling suicidal, feeling worthless, feeling like I will never feel loved.

I finally got the energy to eat something and journal my feelings.

As soon as I started to write down my feelings about the guy. I began to pray and talk to God, which I have done pretty often when I was in a dark depression. I just kept on asking him…WHY? Why bring so many guys in my life that have no interest in me, but talk to me, as if they do like me. Why are they just teasing me and playing with me, then just to hurt me. I’m 31 years old, I’m tired of this!

I had been crying on and off today. Sometimes with or without a warning. And there were many moments where I was in the living room and just started crying. Then I hear a family member walk towards my direction and I quickly have to wipe my tears.

(It’s 7:16 PM and I’m soo sleepy at the moment.)

What I wanted for this new year was….to be OKAY.

I didn’t want to be happy, I didn’t want to have the best year ever.

I just wanted to be OKAY.

We’re 16 days into the new year and I’m already struggling.

F*CK DEPRESSION.

-MEL

JOURNAL JOURNEY.

One of my ways to self-cope/ease my mind from depression and anxiety is to journal.

I have two sources for journaling.

Sometimes I just write in a journal, simple as that.

Writing on this blog is another form of journaling to me. Because sometimes when I think about something, I think it is worthy enough for others to hear my thoughts/experiences. So it can hopefully help someone else in the long run.

When I journal, I typically put music on in the background. Youtube videos and movies would distract me too much.

The music ranges from: coffee jazz music to now Christmas jazz music to Disneyland background music and today was: Ben Platt’s Netflix special.

I have many many journals.

And they each serve a different purpose:

1. Daily Journal- I like to keep memories of the day, by writing what happened throughout the day. I’m getting older and I also forget things. Sometimes I go back months/years back and like to read what happened on certain days, when memories in my mind or the lack of photos make me forget what happened.
2. Therapy Journal- This journal is to write things that I think about before/during/after therapy. Sometimes when I want to talk about a certain subject I will write in this journal, so I can reference it during therapy. I write important concepts that I want to remember, that was discussed during therapy. Also, I write things that happened after therapy such as, after an event that was discussed during therapy.
3. F*CK ANXIETY JOURNAL– this is my second anxiety journal. This journal is basically where I write all my anxieties that keep me awake or won’t escape my mind. It’s a place where I can put my worries/fears/anxieties, so it can leave my mind. Sometimes I write: the facts and what happened, then the WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO, the worries that go with it. Then I take myself back to reality. I write down any possible evidence that argues with the worries. And then I write down: the next steps if my worries were true and if it wasn’t true (self coping skills). Sometimes I like to read back those journal entries knowing that everything worked out in the end.
4. Bullet Journal- Where I keep track of everything: bills, habits, self-care, cleaning, water tracker, amount of sleep, mental health symptoms, physical health symptoms and a mood tracker. If I had a migraine, I look back at the amount of sleep and water I had. Also, I check how my mental health was and if I was stressed and overwhelmed. If I had a panic attack, I look at the water and sleep trackers to understand what I can do physically to help me mentally.
5. Currently working on a 2020 journal- This year changed me like it did to everyone in the world. As much as I want to forget this year, this year has helped me grow as a person. And so I want to integrate every up/down, struggles/achievements, heartbreak and happiness from this year. Because no matter how bad this year was, it helped me grow so much.

I started journaling today. Because I knew that I had a lot of thoughts that could lead to overthinking, which ultimately would leave to anxiety attacks.

So I wanted to write it down to get it away from my head.

I made sure to write down the facts of what happened, reminders that I shouldn’t overthink my actions and that I should love myself, my anxieties (before it creeps up on me before it sleeps) and lastly, the great parts of the day that make my heart flutter.

If your mind overwhelms you, take all the worries and fears from your mind and transfer it to a journal or blog post.

-MEL

Time x Messages.

Oh hey.

Mel here.

The start of my 2 week vacation & this is another episode of “I was sleepy, then I laid down and tried to sleep but my mind wouldn’t stop overthinking…so now I’m wide awake”.

After finding out from 2 sleep study tests (because 1 test didn’t record all the information), I don’t have sleep apnea.

So I’m just going to say that my lack of sleep is due to insomnia & my mind not shutting down and letting me relax.

On Sunday, I took a break from my phone and read. Currently I’m reading “Notes on a Nervous Planet” by Matt Haig. I got to this one chapter, where he talks about phones and uncertainty. Basically, it talks about how we check our phones about a million times a day for messages or notifications.

I do this alot. Even though, I can see my screen and it tells me right away about a text message. I will still check the icon to see if there is a red circle with a number 1 on it. Even if there isn’t a red circle, I will still click on the messages app and look at the message that I sent and check to see if it’s “DELIVERED”…you know to make sure they got the message.

And then I started thinking about how social media is and how it is common to receive messages and responses quickly.

You can have a full conversation with someone just by texting back and forth. You message.. they respond right away and vice versa. You can post something on social media and get a notification of a “like” or comment within seconds of pressing “submit”.

It has become so common, that when you don’t get a response right away…you start to question things (well for me, mostly).

In the past 5 years or so, I used to get those quick responses and conversations through text. Then when I started to have responses that took longer than a day to weeks to months, that’s when I started to feel anxious. (Then I started to not get any texts or notifications anymore)

I started to think that those late replies had to do with me…personally.

Did I say something wrong? Do they not want to be my friend anymore?

And those questions looked different when I was in a relationship or interested in pursuing a relationship with someone.

Are they not interested in me? Are they talking to someone else? Are they cheating on me? Do they not love me anymore?

It’s crazy how the rate of response makes you question your relationship with someone.

Those relationship questions might seem a little bit over the top. However, I’ve had two relationships where they cheated on me. So it was possibly true that they didn’t message me because they were too busy messaging the other girl.

And that transitions me to this current situation that I’m in.

I typically don’t like to announce (especially in a blog) that I am interested in someone, only because I don’t want to jinx it.

But this has been a f*cked up year. So if it jinxes it, then it’s just another thing to add to the list of: f*cked up things that happened in 2020.

But I really am interested in someone at the moment (aka have a crush on them).

I didn’t think he was interested in me in the beginning, because he would message me and then sometimes he would respond back after a week. So we didn’t talk that much before he asked to hang out with me in person.

As with any guy that I meet over a dating app, I always ask them to Facetime first before meeting in person.

I pretty much knew after Facetiming with him and meeting with him for the first time, I wanted to know more about him.

We don’t message each other on a daily basis. I had to push back a dinner with him twice due to some bad migraines and headaches. We Facetimed again a couple nights ago. So we haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks.

And I really like it.

My last relationships were super quick. We basically talked and then went right into the relationship. No dating first and getting to know each other before calling each other boyfriend/girlfriend. And maybe that’s why those relationships ended so badly.

I really like how slow we are taking things.

And don’t worry, I had some anxiety in the beginning when he didn’t text back right away after meeting the first time.

I told myself, “if he doesn’t text me back, then it’s probably over and he’s not interested anymore…so move on”. But then he would respond back. I had that thought a couple of times, and even if it would take a couple of days, he would still respond. And even though, I had to push back our dinner two times, he would still respond.

I texted him a couple of hours ago, and yea I still had some doubts that he wasn’t interested (because that’s how my mind is like). And I just noticed that he replied back like ten minutes ago.

I really like that we are taking our time to get to know each other.

And that we know more about each other when are video calling each other or see each other in person. It’s not through some words that I see on the phone.

Now I’m getting sleepy…

Goodnight!

-Mel