(This must be read as a rant: fast, with pauses only to breathe, and lots of emoting facial expressions) ;)
Once in a while I start to doubt my sanity. I'm sure it happens to lots of people. Every so often I'm sure we wake up from a day dream or stop suddenly in the middle of a task and realize that this scene looks an awful lot like something out of A Beautiful Mind and we start to question whether or not the person standing next to us is real and whether or not that emotional outburst was warranted.Psychology is an interesting field. Not only do I find it fascinating, but I also find it useful and applicable to my life. I have learned things that have helped me better understand myself and that will probably lead me to continue to better understand myself and others in the future. My psychology classes put my mind at ease when it comes to days when I just don't understand myself. I know lots of people who have those days. They are the kind of days where you throw ping-pong paddles at your cousins' husbands because they won and you don't really know why you did it but you feel bad and then you run off and cry in a closet somewhere until you work up enough courage to find and tell your mom who tells you to apologize and you do but it's still weird to be around your cousin's husband for the rest of the evening. We've all had days like this. Maybe we don't all throw ping-pong paddles or markers at people or go around bonking people on the head, but maybe we say things we don't mean, or do things we might not otherwise have done.
I am a human being. Blast. More about that later. Psychiatrists make me nauseous . They could take a perfectly normal human being and turn them into a basket case just by talking to them. It's not that what they're saying isn't true, but they make it sound like you're the only one with a problem and that it's weird and "not normal." This is a lie. You are not the only one with a problem and it is normal. There are certain chemicals and reactions in the human brain that are triggered by intense situations and other stimuli. Our reactions as humans may be different one from another, but that doesn't mean that they're not still just reactions. This same thing happens in my non-fiction class. It's not that what my professor is saying is wrong, it's just that she lathers it with too much fluff and psychedelia that she makes it seem wrong. My fiction teacher could say the exact same thing but the way he says it makes me believe it, apply it, and move on. Such should be the world of psychiatry. Patients should come in, tell their problems, and the shrinks should explain to them what is going on in their brain and how to fix it. Here is an example: Instead of saying "you're feeling this way because you never loved your mother and your father told you were a loser, so you need to pay me another hundred dollars for another hour to talk it out" they would say "these feelings are being displaced from other things in your life that are bothering you, so you need to figure out what is really bothering you and stop that at the source so that what you are feeling now will stop." Wow! What a difference that makes! I said the exact same thing without causing turmoil or labeling anyone! I'm a genius. Einstein would be proud.
The only thing I will commend psychiatrists on is their encouragement of talking. We learned just the other day in my psychology class that talking about what you're feeling is helpful to your mental health. If you suppress feelings it's like stopping up a river: the water may not go down that path you stopped up anymore, but it will go somewhere. Talking is a great way to release emotions: it's a means of catharsis that's helpful. Catharsis (or blowing off steam) by exercise or listening to loud music--or whatever your coping strategy--is good, but it's still like putting up a dam: it just pushes the water somewhere else.
Not that any of this matters to anyone but me right now, but I just thought that maybe someone else might also benefit from the fruits of my Psychology class. I am a human being and I have issues. Or as my parents would say: Issue. But after much deliberation (and given the fact that I am no longer in the heat of my moody moment) I have come to the thoughtful and somewhat obvious conclusion that I come to after every such episode: I am human, I am female, and I am just fine. :)
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Insanity is hereditary: I get it from my kids.
Weird is relative.
Normal is just the average of all the weirdos.
Sometimes I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
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Today's Featured Quote:
Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once.
