Although I still have a LOT of boxes to unpack from the move, that task is proving to be taking longer than I had hoped - mainly because it's still difficult to try to unpack when the rustling paper noises upset my cockatiel and he starts whining (one of my triggers). I can only tolerate his whines for short durations of time before I need to walk away from my apartment and try to de-stress.
Work-wise, things are going well. I do get exposed to triggers on a daily basis - from whistling to eating noises. I just have to remember to put my earbuds in so I can tune them out (literally) and bring earplugs with me to meetings in case I sit next to a coffee slurper. Yesterday I realized that the recycling bin where people smoosh their large paper plots into the bin is right next to my desk. It hasn't been an issue yet, but at some point I might want to see if we can relocate it further from my desk so I don't hear crunching paper being thrown out. As I mentioned in previous posts, I'm trying to hold on as long as I can before saying anything so that everyone can have a good first impression of me before I talk about my misophonia. Hopefully I won't have to mention it at all, but at least I've been very impressed with how nice everyone has been. I have a feeling that people here would be understanding of my situation if it ever did have to come up.
The most stressful misophonia trigger attack I've had over the past week (other than my bird's whines) was when I was standing in line to grab a bite to eat. A mother and her teenage son were standing in front of me and the son kept shifting back and forth, back and forth... Like Edger Allen Poe's pendulum to me... I *really* wanted to ask him to stop, but I just had a gut feeling that his response - or even worse, his mother's response - would be very harsh. It was a LONG wait in line with them in front of me and by the time I finally got my food, I found myself sitting in my car trying to do mindfulness breathing to calm my racing heart and racing thoughts. I've actually slacked off with my mindfulness practicing and I know I'm going to have to get back into the swing of those exercises soon.
Other than that, the days and weeks have been going by fairly quickly since I started working, so I must be having fun. Once I get fully unpacked and settled into my apartment, I hope to get back into the swing of regular misophonia writing again.
Work-wise, things are going well. I do get exposed to triggers on a daily basis - from whistling to eating noises. I just have to remember to put my earbuds in so I can tune them out (literally) and bring earplugs with me to meetings in case I sit next to a coffee slurper. Yesterday I realized that the recycling bin where people smoosh their large paper plots into the bin is right next to my desk. It hasn't been an issue yet, but at some point I might want to see if we can relocate it further from my desk so I don't hear crunching paper being thrown out. As I mentioned in previous posts, I'm trying to hold on as long as I can before saying anything so that everyone can have a good first impression of me before I talk about my misophonia. Hopefully I won't have to mention it at all, but at least I've been very impressed with how nice everyone has been. I have a feeling that people here would be understanding of my situation if it ever did have to come up.
The most stressful misophonia trigger attack I've had over the past week (other than my bird's whines) was when I was standing in line to grab a bite to eat. A mother and her teenage son were standing in front of me and the son kept shifting back and forth, back and forth... Like Edger Allen Poe's pendulum to me... I *really* wanted to ask him to stop, but I just had a gut feeling that his response - or even worse, his mother's response - would be very harsh. It was a LONG wait in line with them in front of me and by the time I finally got my food, I found myself sitting in my car trying to do mindfulness breathing to calm my racing heart and racing thoughts. I've actually slacked off with my mindfulness practicing and I know I'm going to have to get back into the swing of those exercises soon.
Other than that, the days and weeks have been going by fairly quickly since I started working, so I must be having fun. Once I get fully unpacked and settled into my apartment, I hope to get back into the swing of regular misophonia writing again.
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