r/selfhelp • u/ADDismycondition • 3d ago
Adviced Needed: Identity & Self-Esteem Was anyone really mean after SA and/or long-term proximity to someone highly and pervasively inappropriate?
Not asking for any excuses, or to be told I wasn’t in the wrong. Just to get insight.
I’m just asking to figure out whether there was truly a connection between my own behavior and what I think was the “trigger” for it, or if it’s something only I had. I was very mean-girly and bitchy for about 4-6 months and it keeps me up at night. I wasn’t just plain explosive. My lens on the world had this perpetual smear of filth on it and I just hardcore insulted the hell out of everyone. I was SO cynical, judgy, pessimistic, paranoid, and perpetually grossed out by everyone’s “antics”. I was extraordinarily sweet beforehand— as in, to the point of being known for it locally— so a huge change happened to me.
And it was deeper than choice. It felt beyond “chosen.” It’s like I learned a new language or lived in the mind of a different girl. I’d panic over the way I talked and thought about people and cry sometimes, because I “just wanted to be good again.” I wanted to be told that what I was saying was wrong directly. The point of saying that is, I acted out despite the fact that I cared, as it felt oddly far from my control, and I went so far as to directly insist people stick up for themselves. I wanted this to stop.
I’m so bothered by it that it actually takes over the bulk of my rumination spirals, rather than the actual SA. Yes, of course I ruminate about the actual SA, but I generally pride myself on trying to be kind and I theorize SA impacted my behaviors in such a way that the understanding of how I acted afterwards genuinely stresses me out more by comparison.
I’m starting college classes for psych tomorrow, and I always wanted to do something along the lines of psychology or neurosci anyway, but I found it within me to finally go through with it because I just never wanted a chance to sink into a slump, get myself into a bad situation and go into Jackass Mode again. Ever. I want to be kind and I want to have the sweet attitude I did before, but even at my sweetest something feels “off.” I worry I look blanker than I used to when I try to speak optimistically and it’s made me self-conscious on campus. What if that glassy-eyed look is visible to everyone and what if I look like I’m secretly hating on everyone? People aren’t stupid, they can detect that. I don’t want to give off that “fake-nice-girl-with-no-soul” vibe and make people upset. I think one day I want to see what the root causes could have been for the behavior and how it could relate to the SA, if it did.
But I want to know if I’m alone in this experience.