Last night I walked out of the house.
Not like when I was younger, when I’d be gone for days. This time I just walked until my feet took me back.
When I was younger, sometimes the neighbours took me back. Sometimes because they recognised me, other times because I wasn’t wearing shoes and they were just kind people.
However, when you’re a fully grown adult and you walk out last minute, sometimes you end up looking like a movie serial killer (no joke – wellies and all). No one takes a serial killer home.
I could possibly categorise what happened under a few different things; if a therapist asked me (which they wouldn’t, because I’m still awaiting a new therapist. Yawn).
- Antagonism (Specifically hostility) – although I saw this one coming and avoided it quite nicely by leaving the room in the first place.
- Impairments in interpersonal functioning – Compromised ability to recognise the feelings and needs of others associated with interpersonal hypersensitivity (i.e. prone to feel slighted or insulted);
- Emotional liability – Unstable emotional experiences and frequent mood changes; emotions that are easily aroused, intense and/or out of proportion to events and circumstances.
- (Check out this post for more info on BPD symptoms).
Antagonism
I think antagonism/hostility are the only symptoms I can see coming really clearly. Possibly because my ears start ringing and my vision goes fuzzy and I just know I’m about to throw something (usually something breakable and/or expensive that I always miss afterwards).
When I start hearing ringing, as I did last night, I leave the room. Occasionally I can’t leave and I say something … a bit too harsh. Let’s leave that there for now.
Impairments in interpersonal functioning
So yesterday I wasn’t able – in the moment – to recognise that the subject of the conversation was that my boyfriend was hurting. He was feeling upset. Something upsetting had happened to him, and he needed me. I wasn’t the subject of the conversation. – Compromised ability to recognise the feeling and needs of others.
A slight comment was made related to me that anyone else wouldn’t have made a deal of and the world collapsed. – Hypersensitivity
Emotional liability
After I left the room I lay on the bed in the bedroom but was so overwhelmed I couldn’t handle my emotions and had to leave the building, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
So off I went, in a big men’s jumper and men’s tracksuit bottoms and my black wellies, with my hood up and my scarf on. Headphones in. Charging down the road.
It was only after I calmed down (and tried to take a picture of the stars – how do people do that? Mine just came out black) that I realised my reaction was out of proportion. – Emotions that are easily aroused, intense or out of proportion.
Anyway, that was a relatively short, rather tame flare-up compared to most (luckily)!
And, here’s the song that got me through my (very cold) walk. On repeat, no less:

I loved that song. As a teen it was always one of my go-to songs to listen to when my emotions got the best of me. Perhaps I need to bring it back to my regular rotation. Thanks for sharing.
[…] I wandered around the street without shoes so many times I’ve lost count (at least now when I walk out I remember […]