Maybe I went a little overboard with the term crisis the other day when I mentioned my existential crisis. Perhaps I should have used predicament or even the less inflammatory situation. All I know is that I didn’t quite get the reaction I expected when I wanted to discuss my circumstance with my Sweetie. He laughed at me. Yep, laughed. Later he tried to get out of trouble by saying that he was joking with me in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Then a friend of mine asked if I had been reading Kierkegaard. Ha-ha, very funny.
Since I didn’t have any luck with the amateurs, I decided to discuss my juncture with my therapist.
Gosh, I never thought that I would be one of those people who would say that I need to discuss something with my therapist. Or reiterate, “My therapist said…”
But you know what? When you find the right one, they really can be helpful.
So today my therapist and I discussed my exigency. I’ve been rolling the thought around in my head for a few days now so I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on it. Much of what we’ve covered in the past six months meshes with this particular dilemma.
In a sense, I’ve been working on resolving my existential crisis for quite some time now. It’s just the fact that I suddenly became aware of it and was able to identify it that really threw me for a loop. Silly Erica.
One very important and valuable item I’ve discovered in my therapy journey over the past several months, is that once my logical brain resolves and/or identifies an issue, it then takes my emotional side about two days to process the information. Some times an emotional release is involved. But after that, I'm golden.
Do you ever overreact to a sudden realization?
Do you ever need to sort out a situation keeping logic and emotions separate?
6 comments:
Let me guess. S gave you a new Thesaurus for Christmas? Or you're working on a really hard crossword? Glad you've worked out your existential issue. I can validate that yes, you do exist.
Ah, the curious dance between logic and emotion. Love your words here :)
If I act immediately, I usually overreact. If I wait a bit and mull over the situation the outcome (my reaction) is usually much better!
I constantly struggle with logic vs. emotions. I do wish I could find a useful therapist. The ones I've talked to have never done anything but agree with me and then take $20 for it!
I would love to say that I never overreact, but that's far from the truth. I jump to conclusions more than I care to admit. "Don't make assumptions" is one of the Four Agreements, and it needs some work with me. I'm much better than I used to be, but it still needs work. I need work, rather.
Congratulations for using "exigency" correctly in a sentence. You get a cookie.
A rather odd friend of mine always said "Inhale Gandhi, exhale Hitler." When I get wound up and crisis-ey, I breathe deeply and sit in the sun, or go for a walk. And I am careful to look at the facts, acknowledge how I feel about the facts, and then discard those feelings, and act on the facts. The heart is not a thinking organ. The brain is.
Another, less-odd friend of mine always said, "This too shall pass." And it always does.
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