The 3 Steps of NFH
Step Two (Part 1)
Now you have experienced your NFH. Be it noise issues, harassment, boundary issues, you name it, but you have now had the misfortune to experience it for real.
You no longer get up in the morning having slept well. Whether you were disturbed by noise or simply lay awake stressed, worried or even scared, you wish you could have one night where it wasn't getting to you.
You hate being in your home and will do just about anything to escape. Summer is the worst time for you, you hate the noise that people make, and the anti-social behaviour. You wished you could move in an instant. Kids screaming until late, bounding on trampolines, throwing rubbish in your garden despite your polite pleas to stop. BBQ's without warning making all your newly hung washing smell and you having to rush around closing windows everywhere.
Music blaring out for a garden party that should have ended at 9pm and moved inside, but as they are all now tanked up and don't care, it will go on into the small hours. So once again you don't want to sleep because you just won't.
You come back from work and the feeling of dread is inside you, every inch feels nauseous inside and you just want to turn around and not ever go back.
Winter is a welcome relief as it means everyone goes inside so at least some of the stress is taken off you. You pray for rainy days and even though you would love to sit outside and enjoy the garden, you just don't want to because you know it will be spoil in an instant.
You start turning everything down at home. Your TV, your radio, nothing is loud anymore or even normal. You can't think straight and you can't sleep.
You are always on edge because you don't know when the next incident will happen. Life feels lonely and isolated. You hate your family and friends coming over because they simply don't understand and you have to keep everything to your routine as you just can't cope anymore.
Your health starts to suffer as you get more stressed or deprived of sleep. Your life is not your own anymore, it's been taken over by these people who see fit to interfere, and you are becoming lower and lower and just wondering how long it can last before you crack.
The tears come at any given moment. It might be a work colleague or friend asking how you are, and rather than say 'fine', you just cry.
Something has to give (Part 2 Cont...)
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