anxiety kicked in...

it's about mum again. her anxiety kicked in quite significantly this week.

i could only suspect it was due to my heading to jakarta to work on thursday for a day. and added to that, my brother told her his children had come down with the flu but asked her not to visit to prevent cross infection. and then she noticed the maid spoke to other maids at the rehab center and started to imagine how the maid would turn bad. by tuesday, she started to imagine all sorts of things and as a result, began to withdraw. the rehab center staff said she looked unwell and asked if she was ok. this in turn caused her be convinced that something was wrong with her...

all these developments ended with her avoiding food that the maid prepare (remember? the exact same thing happened with my previous maid due to my brother convincing my mum that once the maid talks to people, she would turn bad, steal things, bring men home, etc). and she started to suspect the maids' motive for praying at night before she sleeps (my mum had suspected my previous maid of casting spells on her bed). and she started to also chant and repeatedly said how she would seek protection from the gods and from the buddha... and on the evening before i depart, she refused to sleep on her bed and instead wanted to sleep on the sofa in the living room. took a bit of coaxing to get her into her room. and certainly, it did not help that through these developments, my brother kept reminding her that when i go overseas, she must lock the doors, windows, and lock my stuff so that the maid doesn't steal yadda yadda yadda... good intentions but served to add to the messed up mind of mum.

it was stressful to have to manage her as i tried to balance my own work stress. but well, thankfully, things are ok today.

:-)