For the teenagers!

I wish teens could meet here more often, you know? I feel like nobody gets what life is like for us, stuck in an old body, not being seen as the age we really are. At least here others know me as me, and I just wish we could meet up more.

Sorry you’ve been triggered lots lately Colin and Cody. It sux being triggered all the time, doesn’t it? I’ve been getting scared at stuff but I don’t even know what it is that is scaring me, you know? Like I see something normal and suddenly I am scared and find it hard to breathe. Does that happen to you guys?

- Nicole

Hi Nicole,

Yeah. Sometimes we get triggered and I'm like what just happened? I'm glad you're writing here. It gets kind of lonely when there's nobody to talk to. We used to have a friend our own age but she grew up and went off to college. Now when we talk it's kind of different.

Iain

Hi Nicole!

Sasha are you still around? Sorry I'm not on much. Been kind of hard lately.

Cody

Hi Cody,

Idk--hard stuff happened with the T and it went on for more than 3 months! We really thought we would have to stop seeing him, and the littles were upset, and that meant that I hardly EVER got time with the husband, so I've been trying to focus any fronting time on that.

Everything was making them sad, even posting on here, so we've been kind of out of it most of the time. I know that we've managed to post sometimes, but I haven't been around for that.

But it seems like things are getting better, so that's good. I'm sorry things are hard for you guys also.

We don't have many "real world" worries. We're protected and safe here, and the husband goes out and does most of the errands. So we don't ever have to watch the news. *I* miss going places and being able to dance in front of a mirror instead of a computer, and being stuck in the house all the time is a pain, but almost everyone else in here LIKES being home.

Anyway, it's good to hear from you.

Sasha <3 <3 <3

Hi Sasha,

Yeah tell me about it!! Quarantine is SO boring! We NEVER go anywhere except MAYBE MAYBE pick up some food. We've been getting pretty triggered though. Mostly it's Colin - but me too. I'm really a Protector so when things get tense I get going pretty hard. We're trying to back off and let Host run things for a while. NOT easy!

SO good to hear from you. Take care!

Cody

Can I join in? We have been going through some stuff, and we don’t have anyone who really understands what we are going through. Our T is nice but he can only understand stuff to a point you know? He can’t fully get it. I don’t think anyone can who doesn’t live like us.

Rose

Hi Rose! Sure--this is for any teens who want to talk to each other.

I haven't been able to post much, but we read all the new posts at least.

I'm not around much when we're just at home--the littles LOVE that we're home ALL THE FREAKING TIME, but I'm not getting to do very much of the activities I like to do, and the little bit there is all on Zoom.

Sasha <3 <3 <3

Can I ask a question? How do you all deal with being triggered all the time? We have to keep having our medication changed/increased to try and help us cope. Our T also wants us to talk about what we see and some of us can a bit, but not all of us.

What else can we do? We sometimes don’t know what is scaring us, so we can’t just stop going somewhere or doing something that is triggering, you know? This is wearing us down so much, and we are so tired of fighting it all the time.

Thanks for listening/reading,
Rose

Hey Rose, idk--if we have a bad feeling come up out of nowhere, we do grounding stuff. We actually have a list of what we can do, so any one of can read it. It's mostly stuff we can do at home, like hug a big stuffed bear, get under the weighted blanket...wait I gotta look at it...ok--there's also go for a walk, work in the yard, hug the husband, hold the dog, smell essential oils (that one you could do anywhere), and text or email the T.

But I remember one time we got really triggered when we left one activity to walk to another, in the city, and for that we did the "notice 3 things you see and 3 things about each one, 3 things you hear and 3 things about each one, and 3 things you feel and 3 things about each one." I think we took deep breaths also. The 4-7-8 breathing helps us--inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8. After 10 of those we usually feel calmer.

But we're not triggered "all the time." Does your T help you with grounding stuff? Like sit and breathe with you and stuff? Ours would do that if we let him. He isn't pushing you to talk about difficult things, is he?

Oh, there's also holding one hand with the other, or hugging yourself. Medication can help temporarily, but it isn't going to teach you how to regulate your feelings. Idk--that's all we got.

Sasha <3 <3 <3 (and Devin, too)

Thanks Sasha and Devin,

I don’t know if I should call it being triggered. It is like we often don’t know what scares us, but something all of a sudden will cause some of us to get scared, and some will physically feel sick and can’t breathe. Sometimes it is obvious what caused it, but not all the time. Is that still being triggered?

Our T does try to get us to do grounding exercises, but at the time, I forget all about them and just get all wrapped up in the images I see. I will have to try some of them again maybe when things aren’t too bad, so I get used to doing them.

He used to sit with Jo (host) and do grounding exercises but we can’t have our eyes shut with a male in the room, so he used to remind her what to do and then he would leave for five minutes. The rest of us can’t let him do them with us.

No he doesn’t push us to talk about stuff. He is very supportive and kind and always is gentle with us who get scared easy.

Thanks for talking me through some stuff. I just sometimes feel I’m drowning in it all, that I can’t catch my breath.

Rose

Hi Rose,

You are totally welcome here! Sorry about the triggers. We get triggered too. Mostly it makes us switch. Sometimes we ground and sometimes we forget or feel REALLY stupid trying to do the things.

Sasha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SO good to see you again. Thanks for writing. I hope you're doing ok. Not going anywhere is AWFUL!

Cody