This is a new series wherein I chronicle life lessons I should have learned a long time ago but didn't. So now I'm writing them, for the public, in order to increase my chances of not forgetting this time, dammit.
They are written as though I am talking to myself, well, because I am.
Last week, we talked about other people's problems.
And it wasn't long until someone piped up to talk about how he/she was one of those people with problems, and didn't seem to understand why he/she kept pushing people away. He/she felt it was unintentional.
It was kind of sad.
But then, you gotta think, we all have our junk.
And we all might be that person with problems to whom other people say, "It's just too much to deal with your junk."
You know, for instance, if you have what you've named the "Shiny New Toy" problem.
You have this problem with tasks and things and people.
And many tasks and things and people have been abandoned when the NEW "Shiny New Toy" comes along.
You don't do this on purpose, or with malice.
In fact, you didn't even know this was something you did as a matter of habit until recently.
"Recently," you know, being in the last week. Because you're real cerebral like that.
Also, you watch a lot of Hoarders on Netflix, and you sit and watch the Bird Lady cry over her dirty, nasty birds and you think, "Oh, I'm not so bad," but then you realize...
"Maybe I'm not SUPER fucked up, but I'm still a little fucked up. And there's probably a little overlap between MY little fucked up and someone else's (perceived) SUPER fucked-up-ness."
(And then you tell yourself that "fucked-up-ness" isn't a word, just like "favorited" or "hastagged"...whatever.)
Anyway, you're learning that maybe there is a happy medium between ousting all negativity out of your life, and having empathy for people who probably have the same amount of junk you do. Compromise. Compassion. A little of the old give and take and whatnot.
At least, that's what you think you're learning. You don't know. You just turned on another episode of Hoarders, now with MOAR CATS!
Life Lesson #1-3 Coats of Primer
Life Lesson #2-Things You Can't Fix