I just posted, but for some reason that didn't seem like enough tonight. Apparently it is crowded up there in my head and something is dying to get out.
Think back to one of the more non-death-or-injury-related traumatic moments of your life. Did it feel like nothing would ever be the same because of it? Did you vow to change your ways if it was something like that? Was there another event you had in mind before you settled on the one I asked you to think of? My guess is that you probably filed through three or four before settling on the "most" traumatic event.
What makes it so (traumatic), that it would rank above the others? Was it more recent? Was it back from when you were a kid? When I was a kid, E V E R Y T H I N G was either "the end of the world" or "THE BEST THING EVER". Fortunately time has tempered that a bit. Maybe unfortunately I guess you could say.
Observations of myself and others has gotten me to thinking about this lately. I don't know that I have any conclusions, but I am thinking about it. Just days ago I had a discussion come up that was taxing on my emotions, and it required a decision. Because I have been thinking about this subject, I actually tried to step back and take stock of what I was feeling and how I thought I would feel about it in a few days. This wasn't easy to do because it did seem like fundamental shifts in my happiness level would be affected by this. IT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPIC EVER! At least that is what it felt like.
So, I made a tentative decision and decided to sleep on it. The next morning when I woke up the decision was still the one I was going with and to my modest surprise, the emotional kettle was definitely off the burner and cooling down. As I progressed through my morning routine I tried to think back to other times like this and analyze how I had handled them. Not all this well. Maybe it is because I am older... more experienced... or maybe it is just that this "thing" really didn't rank that high. It could also be that when you are alone at night, things take on much more weight than they do my the light of day. Either way, it wasn't nearly what it seemed. All of these things I could think of weren't nearly what they seemed at the time. Not in the long run anyway.
I guess what I am taking away from this is that with time comes perspective. What may seem like the end of the world rarely is. With the exception of accidents and death of loved ones, most of your issues loose their control over you when you just get a little perspective.
--C
Think back to one of the more non-death-or-injury-related traumatic moments of your life. Did it feel like nothing would ever be the same because of it? Did you vow to change your ways if it was something like that? Was there another event you had in mind before you settled on the one I asked you to think of? My guess is that you probably filed through three or four before settling on the "most" traumatic event.
What makes it so (traumatic), that it would rank above the others? Was it more recent? Was it back from when you were a kid? When I was a kid, E V E R Y T H I N G was either "the end of the world" or "THE BEST THING EVER". Fortunately time has tempered that a bit. Maybe unfortunately I guess you could say.
Observations of myself and others has gotten me to thinking about this lately. I don't know that I have any conclusions, but I am thinking about it. Just days ago I had a discussion come up that was taxing on my emotions, and it required a decision. Because I have been thinking about this subject, I actually tried to step back and take stock of what I was feeling and how I thought I would feel about it in a few days. This wasn't easy to do because it did seem like fundamental shifts in my happiness level would be affected by this. IT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPIC EVER! At least that is what it felt like.
So, I made a tentative decision and decided to sleep on it. The next morning when I woke up the decision was still the one I was going with and to my modest surprise, the emotional kettle was definitely off the burner and cooling down. As I progressed through my morning routine I tried to think back to other times like this and analyze how I had handled them. Not all this well. Maybe it is because I am older... more experienced... or maybe it is just that this "thing" really didn't rank that high. It could also be that when you are alone at night, things take on much more weight than they do my the light of day. Either way, it wasn't nearly what it seemed. All of these things I could think of weren't nearly what they seemed at the time. Not in the long run anyway.
I guess what I am taking away from this is that with time comes perspective. What may seem like the end of the world rarely is. With the exception of accidents and death of loved ones, most of your issues loose their control over you when you just get a little perspective.
--C
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