The Wordsmith's Forge

>> It's not the interactions with customers I mind mostly, it's a boss who pushes my buttons (mostly without meaning to - apparently her *body language* sets me off. It's very stiff and angry-looking. And I can't talk to her about anything of consequence without dissolving into tears. Not *all* my bosses over the years have had this effect on me but it's been more common than not.) And irregular work hours.<<

Oh, that's not good. :(

>> I'm too much of an extrovert for a quiet job with hardly any people at all to actually work for me. <<

Hmm, maybe something with interaction but lower stress? Some hospitality gigs are good for that. But all jobs rely on having a decent boss, unless you work for yourself.

>> I'm also in school right now (working on a bachelor's in sociology) <<

Good luck with that!

>> which a) has been adding to my stress load even though I'm also enjoying it immensely and b) means I need part time work. It's a weird tangle that I've gone around and around on for years.<<

That sounds rough.

>> Yay resources! <<

:D

>> For the rest, what I'm actually working right now is... being okay with cooking at all. <<

Okay ...

>> A lot of the really crappy stuff that happened to me as a kid involved cooking or being in the kitchen plus my ability to attend to all the details of meal planning and shopping and everything is kind of limited <<

Yikes. O_O One thing that often helps is making the present as different from the past as possible. That might mean cooking different things than you did as a child, or prepping/cooking food elsewhere than the kitchen, or practicing other fun things that aren't cooking in the kitchen to make it feel safe.

>> and it's just me right now - my partner is living in another city while she starts her PhD and I finish my bachelor's (which... is an added source of stress....). <<

Long distance relationships suck. Been there, done that. But a relationship that can survive that will survive almost anything else.

>> I'm hoping winter break will give me some time to work on this a little. <<

I hope so too.

>> I took classes over the summer so I haven't had a real break of more than a week or so from school since last winter and I'm getting a little fried.<<

Exhaustion makes everything harder. :(