Flourishing Today

Honestly, Just Stick a Fork In It

My friend,

As I am laying up in bed with the flu, I got very vividly reminded by my boyfriend that there is a time to process, and a time to leave the heck alone. For example: I’m sick, I feel like crap, and anything that goes through my brain is just going to be a reflection and magnification of how bad I already feel! I’m hardly alone though.

How often do we start conversations late at night? Or on an empty stomach, or when we’re already strung out and in a “bad place.”

Processing not only isn’t going to help, but it will just either a) piss you off, b) make you feel worse, or c) likely just piss everyone else off too. Sure, there are valid things to process about, and valid times to process them… but as someone who has been on the receiving end of a bad perm, I know that over-processing will leave you brittle, Brillo like, and completely miserable.

Honestly, if you are feeling like either of these pictures;

Stop.

Collect yourself and take a break. Recognize that the stupid turkey is done and no amount of cooking is going to make it any better. Instead, take it out of the metaphorical oven. Take a nap, take a hot bath, take some tea, take some crayons and butcher’s paper, arrange for a controlled temper-tantrum… I don’t care, but do something else.

Now is not the time to evaluate your life, your relationship, or your effectiveness and worth as a human being. Take time to be aware that you’re already in a fragile condition and take a time-out. THEN, come back to the situation. You might even realize that it wasn’t what you thought it was.. but something completely different.

Like soup stock.

Ding!

Kaye