Once again I am reminded of the disparity between how my mom treats my brother (24, 2 years younger than me) when he's sick and how she treats me when I'm sick. I get the impression that she thinks I'm at least exaggerating, if not outright faking, unless I do something like throw up five times in an hour (which if I remember correctly, did happen the last time I had a stomach bug). With my brother, if he has so much as a headache, it's "Oh, poor baby, let me take care of you." If it's me, expectations aren't lowered at all unless I'm deathly ill. I currently have bronchitis, am coughing a lot, and got literally no sleep last night, and my mom acted like she did me the biggest favor in the world by just taking my dog out to potty while I was trying to rest, sighing loudly as she headed out and then saying "You're welcome" in that "You owe me one" tone of voice upon coming back in. And I'm expected to get up early and go horseback riding in literally freezing temperatures tomorrow morning and go to the social skills group I find very draining (and boring) later in the day. Probably in addition to going out for lunch in between, which also takes a lot out of me. And I know if I get pneumonia from not getting enough rest, she'll blame me for not coughing enough to get all the gunk out before that happened, and if it goes on and on because I haven't been getting enough rest, it'll just be more of that exasperated treatment that suggests she thinks I'm exaggerating or faking, perhaps with added comments about how I really should be done coughing by now. I'm really sick (pun unintended but acknowledged) of this treatment, because in actuality, I understate things and don't mention it unless it's a significant issue. If I have a headache, my mom doesn't even know about it (unless it's a migraine) because I just take some ibuprofen and carry on as usual. And I take pride in being able to just push through things, so it really irritates me when it's suggested, implied, or outright said that I'm doing the opposite.
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"