what's your limit?

How much interaction can you take before you snap?

I've had a heavy week of meetings and people. (My son graduated 8th grade yesterday!) The good news is, and this is awful to say, I'm not trying to help anyone. I took the week off teaching, and I've been ignoring interpersonal triggers. It's not the level I was at pre-hospitalization, maybe half of it. And again, avoiding true triggers. I'm doing better than I expected, though I definitely feel beat up.

Do you know your limit? Do you push it, or try to stay in a safe zone? Do you know what you need to do to adjust when something out of your control comes up?

I can take a reasonable amount of interaction as long as it is padded with either enough downtime (alone tine) or an escape route. One example would be booking many jobs for one week. I did this last week and by Tuesday I KNEW I wouldn't make it to Saturday if I didn't cancel at least one day. So I took yesterday off. It was a no brainer. I've been through this so many times before. I should know better. But with my situation it's almost a constant choice between making enough money to, you know, eat, or avoiding a complete meltdown. My mental health always wins out, as it should. So it's microwave popcorn for dinner tonight. I'm fine with that.

Another example would be socializing. A longtime friend of mine just got over a serious illness that nearly killed him so he's having a BBQ later this summer. A big one. I couldn't decline the invitation so I'm already prepping myself for it, or more specifically, trying to arrange things so I will know how to get out of there early should the need arise. I'm also making sure I have the day before and the day after off from work since the BBQ will likely feel like a week's worth of work condensed into one day.

So it's knowing my limit combined with a lot of pre-planning.. a type of strategy to make sure I don't go over that limit. Plus I have rampant OCD, which tends to exacerbate my avoid ant tendencies and lower that limit considerably.

It's like a wire inside me that gets more and more taut as I approach my limit. If I'm not careful and that wire snaps, bad things happen. Years of experience have taught me to recognize and respect my limit.

I think it's very important for people with anxiety issues, or MH issues in general, to know their limit.

Very very important.

No, I don't usually know my limits. If I go b into the red I usually go into denial.

If I do register that things are getting too much, I usually beat myself up. Why can't I cope like everyone else.

It's not always easy to do anything about a potential burn out, whether it's AvPD, anxiety or depression. For instance, my employer expects me at work, my daughter needs looking after, family have expectations of me. It's never possible to completely get away from those pressures.

I hope you have a peaceful and relaxing weekend after your heavy week.

I would be able to say "x, y and z will make me reach my limit", but I do know when I am at the point of needing my own space. The point of wanting to run away and hide. There are times when I push on through it- whether it be because of work, or family, or being in some sort of social situation that I can't pull myself out of at that very minute, but as soon as I can get away from it I will.

When I was working three days a week, I could usually feel it building up- I'd know that I needed to take time off. I'd start getting really edgy about everything, start self harming more and becoming suicidal and just feeling like "I really can't do this anymore". I'd take a week or two off and the stress levels would go down again. I'm back to one day a week now- coping much better. But it was a job that is so customer focused- not something ideal for someone with AvPD.