I’m not gunna lie, haven’t seen the movie in a long time so I completely forgot about all the maiming in the film lmao good catch

Any Studio Ghibli movie seems to be age appropriate and has a female protagonist featured in most: Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo

When I was in school it was all about Neopets and Adventure Quest.

I’m glad that I could help! I also dislike feeling unclean when I get into bed and it prevents me from being able to sleep, too. For me, I need to be sure my pit, face, and feet feel clean lol.

The only other advice I can offer is to be patient with yourself as you go on your journey. It’s definitely easier said than done as I know I can get frustrated with myself when I seem to be going backwards at times. Sometimes, circumstances are not kind and sometimes it can feel like no progress is being made, but that’s ok. It’s good to take things at a pace that works for you to ensure that you don’t get overwhelmed. It’s sorta like me when I go to the gym; if I workout too hard, I won’t want to go again because it was too much. Taking things at a slower pace and lower intensity while still challenging myself is ideal to keep up the good habit and I believe that it applies to good habits for mental health as well.

I’m glad that you have a therapist that sounds understanding and helpful. It can make a big difference having people in our lives that understand us. If there’s anything else you need or wish to talk about, I will be available when I can :)

I am learning ASL for when I have trouble using my voice to communicate. I’d recommend learning ASL with a friend or finding a small class to learn it with. Putting yourself into some uncomfortable situations could be a good place to practice coping skills for when you begin to feel discomfort. The structure of having a class at set times and knowing what to expect should help, too, I think.

I posted a separate comment talking about my experience with the subject and what I did about it in an attempt to see if that would help OP.

It’s fine to have different perspectives about things. I enjoy hearing different points of view. I just feel like being closed minded and assuming the worst of a person is not very productive and doesn’t do much to help OP.

Tbh it came off to me more like “tough-love” than asshole… I think there’s some valid points said here. Some people need the blunt approach for advice.

I don’t really see what your comment adds to this discussion.

I had a big problem with sleep hygiene as well since I often would turn in early at night to rest when I lived with others in order to be in a quiet space where I will likely not be disturbed until morning. I found that I had to set some rules for myself if I wasn’t feeling tired enough to fall asleep. My rules were: 1) do not go under the covers, 2) since i hate wearing socks to sleep I made sure to keep them on until I was ready to get under the covers, 3) make sure I feel relaxed. I often have to have a hot shower before bed to raise my body temperature before I get into bed because the feeling of my body temp dropping makes me sleepy.

As for the tolerance issue, I would say that there’s a lot of factors in finding success for it. Someone else in the comments said that you have to change. I think maybe there’s some skills for you to work on, but fundamentally I don’t believe you need to change. I think that I can sense a feeling that your friend and former girlfriend didn’t seem to respect what you were requesting of them. I can understand how that can be a tough subject to tackle, especially when you’re actively overwhelmed. With the people I care about, I have discussed with them that there will be times where I can’t really speak or be spoken to and that I’ll give them a signal/codeword so they understand when I am in that state. I bring some earplugs with my everywhere to help against overstimulation since I am particularly sensitive to sounds. Most people seem to respect when I request some quiet. I often will discuss with them after the overwhelming feelings pass about why I got overwhelmed, if I know why, so that if it was something that they did that we can talk about how to avoid that going forward. Though I do believe that this makes me hard to be around as it makes others feel like they walk on eggshells around me, at times.

I believe that there’s a few things that you should talk over with your therapist about. The first thing that I found helped me a lot was getting better at recognising my limits. I know it night not be the case for you, but for me I really struggled to recognise getting overwhelmed until it was too late and I was melting down. This skill is necessary for the second thing to consider. The second thing to talk about would be gaining some more effective communication skills. Of course, it takes two to have a conversation, but doing your best to convey your thoughts, feelings, and intentions is important.

Let me know what you think. I hope something in my comment helps!