Mostly I just vent on Twitter. I follow and am followed by around 150 people, so Twitter remains an intimate experience for me. I don't think I could follow a ton of people-it'd be overwhelming for us K's. I have a hard enough time just trying to remember a handful of names, I could never communicate with a large group of Tweeps. To be honest, I have to take notes about different people I chat with on Twitter or else I'd never remember anyone. We like to get to know a handful of people rather than just follow hundreds of strangers. This is why I don't participate in the whole "Follow Friday" thing, where people on Twitter suggest other Tweeps follow certain accounts. I don't want to single out any Tweep as being better than any other Tweep, and more importantly, we don't want to encroach upon anyone's privacy. Also, I'd rather not be singled out myself, because the idea of a lot of people following us makes me uncomfortable.
I'm such a paranoid person to begin with, and if I stop to think about the fact that over a hundred people are currently reading my personal thoughts....well, quite frankly it freaks us the fuck out. I will admit that it'd be nice to get more readers for this blog, although I'm surprised at myself for thinking that. After all, I began writing the blog for me, for the K's, to use as a record of my symptoms and moodswings and switching. It seems odd that I'd be looking for exposure...but I would love to help someone out there who might be struggling with some of the same mental issues as we, the K's are.
Mainly, we use Twitter as a support system. If I'm having an anxiety attack, I can send a tweet out into the universe and maybe, just maybe, someone will answer me and either chat with me until my panic has subsided or at least give us some words of encouragement. My Tweeps have gotten me through the nightmare that is sitting in a waiting room on many occasions. In addition to the support, I am also entertained; many of the people I follow are quite funny. I mostly follow other people with mental health issues, because I can better relate to them than to regular, non-mental people. In real life, I don't have any friends with whom I can discuss my eating disorder or Social Anxiety Disorder, but on Twitter there's always someone out there who understands and can empathize.
I avoided Twitter for so long....I used to make fun of my husband for using it. Now, just 3 months after I first began following people, I am hooked. A few of the K's tweet often, and many mornings when I go back and read the tweets from the past 24 hours, I am surprised at what they've (we've) said. I'm also frequently embarrassed. But that goes along with the nature of a dissociative disorder-you never know when you're going to dissociate and perhaps do or say something inappropriate, something that draws unwanted attention to us. I don't remember these things, or else I just get flashes or bits of them; usually I find out because someone will tell me or say something about how funny I was the other night, or make a comment about seeing me totally wasted (often what people think when I'm somewhere else in my mind). I don't really mind people thinking I'm drunk or stoned; it's less embarrassing to me than the truth, when the truth is that I was someone else, or "out to lunch" in my head.
But on Twitter, and in this blog, I can be truthful about what's going on. I can exclaim that I'm losing my mind or seeing bugs everywhere or whatever-and no one will think much of it. In real life, I'd be stared at, laughed at, made to feel self-conscious and foolish. So in many ways, Twitter and this blog are more representative of my real life than even my Real Life, where I have to hide my true self. How ironic. Twitter, where people can lie and be whomever or whatever they want...and I happen to be more open and honest there than even in Real Life.
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