Skip to main content

The break room

  I am very close. One step closer and all will come tumbling down. A subtle puff of wind and it will topple. The tunnel vision...the black stars...the muffled sounds...all signs of imminent imploding.
  Several years back, I watched a TV show with the most brilliant concept. A young girl, who recently had gone through something traumatic, was relieving stress in a room built for destruction. She stood behind a counter with a stack of cheap, glass plates. You know, the ones that you can buy for a dollar to be every day use. And she threw them. She threw them against the wall and let it go. She was able to destroy before it destroyed her.
  Stress rears its ugly head in many forms and different ways in different people. In me? It presents itself as lack of patience, immediate need for seclusion, sudden leakage of eyes (some call this crying), overwhelming desire to tear out of my skin, and the paralyzing need to break...everything. I tend to get short with those that are close to me, and when words come out of their mouth, I want to take them and shove them back in, and not delicately.
  This is the inside me. The part that no one sees. The part that, if let out, would cause lasting effects I could never reverse. This is the part I keep hidden so I don't get into trouble. So what do people see?
  Perhaps someone that does have it all together. One thing for certain...I despise the sense of obligation. I rarely asked for help in something because I don't want others to feel that black cloud of obligation. So...I come across as calm-ish, cool, and almost always collected.
  I need a break room. Today, a dear friend suggested that I stab a piece of paper. The poor paper looked like it was an extra on a horror film. But I felt a bit better. I was able to take out a small modicum of aggression on the paper alleviating a fraction of the stress that was building like a pressure cooker.
  Now, I don't want people to read this and feel obligated to ask how I am. I. Am. Okay. I. Will. Be. Okay. If you ask...I will tell you such. If you don't ask, and I offer a tale of stress and emotion, take it for what it is.
  Prayers. Prayers are good. I can always use those. I never tire of them. Maybe some suggestions on a personal "break room." Ha! Anything at this point is probably better than what I am doing...
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Beneath the Weeping Willow

  "The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows—a wall against the wind. This is the willow's purpose." —  Frank Herbert, Dune   Time, although a very evasive concept, is in each moment a gift. And most often, I don't stop to look back at the road I have traveled on. Even more so, the road Justin and I have travelled together. But today it is warranted. Today marks 9 years as husband and wife, and 9 years of truly some amazing and adverse moments. We have lost the most cherished and birthed the most loved all the while interwoven with each other.    I will be the first to admit that our day to day appears to some: mundane. However, inside the ordinary he and I together have understood the profundity of love. It is brash and loud, but it is also cautious and quiet.  "Love is a many splendored thing."  It is the true basis of community, and I am proud of the community we have built.   The  willow  is the t...

A human mirror

  I look at myself, a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that I didn't think myself attractive for a long time. Now, I can look at myself even when someone else is in the bathroom. Before, I entered with head bowed and left the same. There are times when I look at myself 3 times before I leave. Most of the time, I focus on one aspect of myself: my eyes, my hair, my waist line, my clothes...something. I can see how this seems egotistical, but perhaps I am making up for lost mirror time.   However, I can only remember one time that I actually looked into the mirror to see something deeper than my outward appearance. And it scared me. I honestly didn't think it was possible to look into the mirror and truly see oneself. It always seemed so cliché. Until I did it.   That was 4 months ago. The moment I decided to walk away from a "relationship" that was nothing more than a confusing drag. It held me bound and clipped the wings I knew God had given me to f...

It's the underlying peace...

For some reason, dating my first boyfriend was hard. I was 21; he was 18. We were together for maybe 2 months. I am even reluctant to call him my boyfriend. Classic story of he wanted me; I was bored...voila. And not too long before I broke it off, I found myself in the sacristy talking to my then pastor. I was confused and hurt. I honestly can't even remember why. But he changed me that day.   He told me this: when he was discerning the priesthood two weeks prior to ordination, he struggled. He struggled so much he was beginning to believe his choice of vocation was wrong. His spiritual director at the time told him to pray. He told him to spend one solid week praying as though he was going to leave formation. Leaning all prayer toward that thought. Then, he told him to pray the next solid week as though he was going to stay and become the priest that he believed, at one point, he was supposed to be.   And as he prayed, he struggled. His mind wanted to wander and his desire...