Long Division

How does one separate something that has taken years to build? It could have taken 2 years, or 20, but each day you added bricks and build a foundation, walls, windows… it develops into a fortress to protect you from the world. This fortress is supposed to be impenetrable. It shields all the inhabitants inside. So how, and where, does one even start to take it down? Do you burn the drawbridge? Trebuchet the shit out of the exterior? It’s hard to know, I guess. Circumstances often dictate the destruction of your fort.

But what do you do if you’re not mad, but have simply decided that this fort is shit, and you don’t want to live there anymore? Do you attempt to keep the status quo until arrangements change? Do you still burn the drawbridge and trebuchet the exterior? What about a volatile situation? What then? When inside the fortress is nothing but pure chaos, and there’s fires everywhere? How does one process getting everyone to safety? What does safety even look like, when you’re bed is in flames? Are there really any survivors? Nobody escapes totally unscathed, right?

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And there’s the long division. Strangely enough, if you never unpack, it’s easier to move. But now, we must sift through every. single. thing. to determine what belongs to whom, or who gets it in the dividing process. Then, there’s the others in the fortress… what becomes of them? The friends? You know everyone chooses sides, whether or not they consciously chose a side. Even family chooses sides, despite best efforts. It’s like we drew a line, and everyone decides which side they’ll forever stand on.

What I’ve determined is the worst of all, is the feeling of sudden emptiness. Loneliness. You once had a sounding board to share in your trials and triumphs with. Now, there’s friends or family, but it’s not the same. I want to share my joys and sorrows with someone who is in the fortress WITH me. We are fighting on the same side, in the same battles. People outside the fort, they just can’t appreciate the inner workings of your brain and heart, without first having to explain yourself. That is fucking exhausting. Constantly going over the same stuff, all the time. I just want to have my heart safely in the hands of someone I don’t have to “preface” with. New is positively exciting. Electric. But old, it’s comforting, familiar. That’s not to say I want a damn thing to do with this decaying rubble, but there’s something to be said for the familiar.

My heart aches for what it doesn’t have. My mind longs for a simple life. My intuition knows that this has expired and that it’s no longer home for me. Now what do I do with myself?

 

Sayonara August, Heeeeellllllo September!

As August FINALLY comes to a close, I reflect, as I always do, on my goals and things I’ve been working on.

I have to admit I could have probably put a bit more effort into my goals the last few weeks, but it’s been a complete disaster with most things in life. Work stresses, school started and they stress me out more than just about anything… plus there’s been a healthy dose of personal life struggles as well. So, yes, I could have devoted a bit more to the master plan here, but I just needed to focus on other things and that has been one of my goals: not being so hard on myself. I’ve done the best I can with what I’ve been given and I have to be ok with that. And, for the most part, I am.

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The last couple of weeks have been particularly challenging because of what I “lovingly” call the brain plague. The brain plague is a term I use for when my mind is going constantly, dwelling on things, particularly the past. I am a chronic comparer. By this I mean, I compare situations, people, myself… to things that I know. I compare last year, around this time, to now… to see what I was doing, how I’ve changed, how my life is better or worse. I do this with most things and as I’ve gotten older, thankfully, I do it less and less with people other than me. Historically, I’d compare people that I know to former people… I’m glad that’s *mostly* gone, but mentally, I still compare how I felt about certain types of situations and certain types of people, to see if the circumstances are better or worse or my actions are either of those. The brain plague is a particular type of dwelling I do about my personal history and it comes on occasion, especially in August for some reason. The thing that I’ve noticed this year about the brain plague is that I’m far less effected directly by the thoughts, but more the feelings. This has been a tough one because I’ve been feeling extra sensitive as of late and I’ve been picking up a lot of strange vibes. My motto has been “there’s something in the air”. Almost like a weight. I know that once I get the school rhythm and work balance figured out for the semester, the universe will right itself and I’ll be able to breathe again. Just a couple more days!

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So my goals are:

September and October
~Right Action
Be honest with myself and others, in thoughts, words and deeds, with compassion
Be generous: make time, give back and pay it forward
Find fun!: spend more time with those I love having adventures
Now, upon reading these goals, one might think that I’m a greedy, lying bore. Quite the contrary! However, I think that I have some tailoring to do with these goals. Being honest with myself means that I have to create boundaries and stick to them, as well as communicating honestly with myself and others if they have been crossed. I have a hard time with confrontation and I want to be able to express to people when I am hurt or upset and why. But I also want to be more open to others because I am often too reserved in certain situations. I think that will be a difficult part of the goals, being more open.

Generosity comes in various forms and I’m no stranger to giving… to a fault. But again, this is where boundaries come into play. However, I want to be generous in more meaningful ways. That means that I’ve got to not just do everything for those around me, which I’m prone to doing, but making time… especially time. But that also leads into having adventurous fun. I’m looking to have more fun and doing it with the people I love will not only create amazing memories, but it’ll also lend to me meeting like minded people to expand my friend base. Win/Win. :)

Anyway, after all the blathering, I’m looking forward to a new set of goals and enjoying the next few months! Woohoo!

Murphy and the Law

Everyone knows about Murphy’s Law, right? Such is my life, but in regard to the happiness project, “wrong” isn’t the right word. It’s more like, ridiculous or better yet… late. I say this because I’ve given myself two months to “perfect” the allotted goals, right? Well, the Universe has decided that I need to keep going back to other goals. This normally wouldn’t be an issue, but how am I supposed to watch what I say when so many things are happening all at once?

Which brings me to my point: Last month I aimed to meet new people that had similar interests or values to myself. Didn’t meet a single new person. The last couple weeks, met at least two that are really cool and I’d like to hang out with. They have qualities that are really great. One is intellectually intriguing and the other shares my quirky sense of humor (and sometimes ups the ante). Of course, surely they each have other qualities, but I’m getting to know them and I’m enjoying it.

Also, we are lessening the suffering all over the front yard in the last week or so at the house. There are a pack of stray cats and they’ve taken a liking to our porch and the cat food we’re compelled to give them. They’re safe and fed/watered. We cannot afford to take them all to the vet or anything, so food, water and safety is what we can do. There’s a lesson in there. I have to accept what the limitations are and be ok with that.

Anyway, that brings me to the introspective part of my post. You can opt out now if you wish. :)  Consider yourself warned. I was talking with someone at work today and they were questioning how important common interests are in relationships. I’m going to expand that idea into friend relationships too… but having things in common, at least to me is relatively important. Sharing and enjoying common experiences, that’s something I personally need in my life. Outside of a few specific instances, I’m not finding much in common with those around me. Maybe it’s me? Maybe I’ve got fairly unique tastes in hobbies? I dunno. But either way, Murphy needs to knock it off. I can’t handle the stress. :)

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