The Other Me
‘Life’s Short Interruption: Part II’ iv. When we’d first gotten together, Allie lamented she hadn’t been around when I’d suffered from depression and anxiety when I was younger, as she believed she would’ve helped me through it. It was a romantic notion. Allie’s own mother occasionally suffered from anxiety and depression. This should’ve given Allie some understanding of how debilitating the conditions can be, but often it’s the people closest to the sufferer who have the hardest time understanding it. When her mother went through another episode, Allie’s initial attitude disgusted me. She’d ask, Why can’t she just get over it? I tried to explain that when this thing hit,…
The Other Me
‘Life’s Short Interruption: Part II’ iii. Dr Matusik was a good reality-check. I’d see her monthly and she’d challenge my thinking. When I’d compare myself to somebody – like the speakers from the publishing industry who’d come to school to talk to us – and make myself feel inferior she would ask why I’d compare myself with people who were leaders in their fields. I couldn’t help it. Whether it was my own sense of inferiority, or drilled into me by Allie constantly comparing me to others (or possibly even a combination of both), I would look at these people and see that some of them were younger than me,…