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Mom and kids
Autism Family Self-Care Special Needs Type 1 Diabetes

To The Mom Who Feels Like a Failure

My daughter absolutely despises doctor’s visits. I usually have to give her a week’s notice to mentally prepare for the anxiety a simple check-up will inflict. She recently confessed that her anxiety stems from the fear that the doctors will find something else wrong. It’s a type of PTSD she’s reliving from the time she …

Mean Teacher
Special Education Special Needs

How to Destroy a Child in 8 Easy Steps: A Teacher’s Guide

There are some truly wonderful teachers out there in the world. These are the ones who want to make a positive difference in the lives of our children. The ones who work tirelessly to make sure no child falls behind. The ones who nurture, encourage and protect their students as if they are their own. …

Autism Self-Care Special Needs Type 1 Diabetes

When Support Groups Aren’t Very Supportive

I remember the day I completely ignored all my responsibilities. No housework. No errands. No crossing off items on my to-do list. I just spent the entire day scrolling through Pinterest, looking at pictures of prospective tattoos. I was in search of a diabetes tattoo in particular, in honor of my daughter. We were a …

Autism Self-Care Special Needs

Recovering from Autism Recovery: What They Don’t Tell You About Early Intervention

Perhaps you are the parent of a child who has been newly diagnosed with autism or you see the red flags and suspect the diagnosis. I have walked in your shoes. I have been where you’re at right now. And, I know it is overwhelming. There is so much to process and so many fears …

Autism Self-Care Special Needs Type 1 Diabetes

“We Were On A Break”

I’ve always been an extrovert. Growing up, there was nothing worse in life than missing a party. If there was a social event, I was there. I drew energy from being around other people and large social gatherings. In fact, I could almost feel my tank emptying when I was forced to spend time alone. You could describe me as talkative, enthusiastic, social and usually in search of the spotlight. I could walk into a room full of strangers and within three minutes, I’d have a group of new best friends. Then…I had kids.

And, motherhood came in like a wrecking ball. In those early days, I functioned in a constant state of bewilderment and sleep deprivation. I couldn’t understand why it looked so easy for everyone else, while my babies screamed bloody murder wherever we’d go. They never slept. They hated the car seat. They hated the noise. They hated the quiet. They hated baby-wearing. They hated being left alone. I struggled tirelessly to find that magic formula that would convert my colicky children into the quiet, happy, cooing little babies I’d see all my friends had been gifted. Looking back, I believe it was early sensory sensitivity that caused all the commotion. But, I had no idea how to make sense of it at the time. All I knew was I had to give up on my social life. There is no going to lunch with friends, when you have to leave the restaurant after 5 minutes. There is no gabbing casually on the phone with a friend when your kid is howling like a screech-owl in the background. It was extremely isolating. And, I found myself gravitating towards the life of an introvert, because of the anxiety that accompanied public ventures with my kids.


As our kids grew older, I was able to slowly ease back into social opportunities. However, we struggled with new challenges as a result of their disabilities. Living with autism meant one could expect an average of at least 2-3 meltdowns per outing when our son was younger. Can I just tell you how exhausting that is, both physically and emotionally? Can I also tell you how exhausting it is to send your daughter with Type 1 Diabetes to sleepovers weekend after weekend, terrified that she could die in her sleep while in someone else’s care? The spontaneous parties thrown together on a whim that other people take for granted are simply not an option for our household. Socializing requires massive planning and preparation. We must stock and carry a full inventory of medical supplies and snacks on us at all times, including my daughter’s emergency glucagon shot. Every social event that involves my T1D requires substantial coordination on my part with the parents or hosts of the party to ensure that they understand the necessary basics and emergency protocol. And, though our son has made tremendous progress with public outings, he still often requires advanced notice of what to expect on the agenda, warnings of when transitions will occur, and what the social rules entail. Pile all that on top of each other, and some days, it’s JUST.NOT.WORTH.IT!

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It took some time in therapy to identify that I was struggling with social anxiety. Me. The social queen. I scoffed at the notion. How could I possibly be averse to social situations now when they had always come so naturally to me most of my life? But, once I considered the validity of the social anxiety {when I have my kids} theory, I was able to formulate some coping strategies. Though most therapists don’t recommend becoming a hermit as the answer, it was exactly the answer for me. I was so overwhelmed as a special needs parent that I had to identify what stressors I could easily remove in order to even find my battery to focus on recharging it. As it turned out, most of my stressors involved meeting social demands. So, I decided to take control and in the words of Ross Geller, I went “on a break!”

I took a break from volunteering, from social events, from acquaintances, from church, and just about anything or anyone that started setting off those anxiety triggers. I took that time instead to find myself. I explored hobbies, started a new part-time DREAM job that I loved, and focused for the first time in years on myself and my self-care. And, it worked! That is when I truly started to heal.

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So, here are some lessons I learned while “on a break” I will impart to you:

  • Living independent of others’ expectations and opinions is so freeing. I love the quote my husband often preaches: “What others think of me is none of my business.” Try it and I guarantee it will reduce your anxiety by more than half! When you finally decide you don’t care what others think or live indebted to their obligations, you learn the power of saying “no”. What a relief I feel each time I say that lovely little two-letter word! 😉
  • Finding a hobby or creative outlet is a healthy way to send positive signals to our brain we are so craving when bombarded with negative alerts day in and day out. Our daughter with Type 1 Diabetes is usually not enthusiastic to join diabetes support groups or advocacy campaigns. When you live with this disease 24/7, sometimes you just don’t have anything left of yourself to give. Many well-meaning friends invite us to different diabetes events to offer their support. These events mean a lot to me, personally. I find the community support so helpful. But, I’ve learned that it is perfectly okay to decline some invitations for my daughter’s sake. Everyone copes in different ways and our daughter prefers not to give diabetes anymore time than she has to. Instead, she finds enjoyment and escape in her artwork. This is what brings the smile back to her face after a rough day of battling blood sugars or insensitive peers.
  • It is possible to grow in our relationship with God when we remove the middle men. Another words, it’s okay to tell church “we’re on a break.” Yes, I know. This one might be a bit controversial to some. (I could write a separate piece alone on special needs in the church and probably will!) I found that church was too painful during my time of grieving. Not only was it hard to find childcare workers who were equipped to handle our children’s needs, it also forced me to go deeper than my soul could handle at the time. Many of the Sunday messages focused on not getting stuck in the cycle of bitterness. Well, I was stuck indeed and not going anywhere for quite some time. I just wasn’t ready to go forward as fast as the messages wanted to take me. I needed time off alone with God. Alone to move through the grief at my own pace.
  • You don’t have to figure out “why.” This was a tough one for me. I wanted to know what I had done to piss off God so bad! And have you ever noticed that when anyone is suffering, they are always referred to the book of Job? That damn book of Job is my Achilles’ Heel, I’m not gonna lie. I still struggle to understand why that chapter of the Bible is comforting to some. For me, I can’t seem to get to that part where Job has everything restored and doubled because I get hung up on where it seems God is letting Satan manipulate Him. I’m reading it the whole time, thinking “God, why are we negotiating with terrorists here??” After years of reading the Bible, I have still not found peace with that chapter, so I find that is is better for me not to dwell in that story very long. I suppose you could say the Book of Job and I are “on a break.” A very long 20-year break, so far…..
  • It is okay to distance yourself from the people in your life that are not good for you. This is not necessarily limited to the obvious “toxic” people, but even those who are just walking such a different journey that they can’t relate. For example, there were times where it just hurt too much to be around friends whose children were “perfect.” The matters they perceived as significant parenting concerns seemed so trivial compared to the issues I was facing with my kids’ disabilities. I came to the point where I recognized that I just felt drained, depressed and defeated when I was with them. It didn’t mean I wanted to stop being friends. It simply meant I needed to go “on a break” so I wasn’t inundating my spirit with constant comparisons of our children.

So, if you are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma and burnout in your life, I encourage you to consider these points. Give yourself permission to take a Sabbatical. It might be time to evaluate areas of your life that are stifling your mental health, and identify areas that will add value instead. What people, thoughts or activities do you need to tell “we are on a break?”

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