My mother is paranoid schizophrenic.

As a child I can remember my unending frustration in her inability to turn the voices off.
“Can’t you just NOT listen?”
“There is no one in the bushes with a semi-automatic Mom, I promise.”
“Granddaddy’s head is not in freezer, I checked – twice.”
“No one kidnapped Melody, she is in her room playing dress up with the damned cat.”
“There are no demons in the washing machine, they left.”
“No one came through the television and, no, no they did not ask for a cold drink.”

I used to get so angry.
JUST BE NORMAL! PLEASE JUST BE NORMAL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE’S MOM!!
Like anyone else’s mom was fucking normal. Hmpft, as if.
Fast forward 30 years …
Why can I now not take my own advice when the voices tell me I am:
- obese
- ugly
- ignorant
- wrinkled
- abusive
- a monster
- A MONSTER!!!!!!!
Why do I allow myself to NOW listen to the poison? ‘Coz, I mean, the poison has always been there.
The poison was inserted by a drug addicted father. The poison was reinforced by violent stepfathers. The poison was solidified by girlfriends and boyfriends lost to the undertow.

Why can I not take the advice I so easily spouted to my defenseless mother all those many years ago and ignore the voices?
Why can I not relax into the freedom of knowing what is to be was what was meant to be?
How can I convince the voices, or anyone, that I’m not a monster if I can’t convince myself?

Should I be medicated on a regimen of pharmaceutical cocktails? Should I pay someone $200 an hour to listen to my problems?
I could but I’m not. Because I don’t want to medicate it away. I want to feel it.
How do I apologize to my mother for attempting to force away her thoughts, her feelings, her psychosis when I refuse to relinquish mine?

I have always wondered if crazy people knew they were crazy.
Yes. Yes we do.
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Update: I penned this post more than a year ago during a surprisingly long pity party. But no worries, I got betta.









