Dichotomy
I feel like most of the up and downs of my life come out of the dichotomies that I create. I talk myself into one thing and then I feel horrible about it so I do ahead and do the opposite and then feel terrible about that. I would like to be thinner and fit into such clothing but every time I go on a diet, I think about how life is short and why the fuck shouldn't I be able to eat whatever I want. Then I get frustrated and hate life when I can't buy the clothes I want because I ate that stupid piece of chocolate.
I want to be able to book more photo sessions and have a lot of clients but then I get sad that I am so booked that I don't have time to do other things I love like read and relax. I want to sign up David for some of the mom and baby courses so he gets to interact with other children but then each time we go to one of those things, he cries all the way there and all the way home. Sometimes he even acts grouchy there. So then I wonder should I have stayed home with him afterall. I want to sleep more but I feel like I am wasting time. I want my work environment to be more intellectually stimulating sometimes but then I don't want to sacrifice the other parts of my life like time with David. I want to keep writing this site every single day. I think about it constantly. I want to keep up on my email and take the time to keep in touch with my friends. But I don't want to give up any of the other things that take up all my life and time.
I am constantly plagued by thoughts of one of these struggles. The even more frustrating part is that I am never happy with the option I choose because each time, while I execute the one I picked, I am thinking of the other one, the consequences of the one I picked. The pants I won't be able to wear because of the chocolate I am eating, the chocolate I don't get to eat because I want to fit in the pants. The life I don't get to have, the life I long for. It's just that I partly always feel like I am missing out. Like I am cheating a part of me.
Not exactly sure how to get out of the loop. I guess the idea is to pick one and just be content with it. But I honestly don't know how.
Jinxed
If I were superstitious, I'd say I must shut down my site. Since I began rewriting, I threw out my back, I got swamped with work, David got a stuffy nose, I got a sinus infection, I got a fever, David lost his voice, and David got an ear infection. All in a month's work.
One of the reasons, among many many, that I wanted to nurse is because it's known that babies who are nursed get sick less often. David made it to eight months without any sickness at all. And then he got a stuffy nose. Everyone told me it was teeth. Well, two weeks passed, and still stuffy nose, still drooling, but no teeth. Then he woke up with no voice. When he cried, all we could hear were tiny squeals. That was so sad, but not even nearly as sad as the small, tiny laughs that came out without a sound.
We went to the doctor a week into the stuffy nose but there was nothing else wrong. So, after a week, when he lost his voice, I wanted to take him back to the doctor and Jake thought I was insane. But I dragged him anyway. Which is when I found out David had an ear infection. And the doctor said it wouldn't have gone away on its own and I was wise to bring him in now while it's still mild. Yey for maternal instinct.
Being sick and having a sick baby means everything else goes to shits. Nothing gets done. Mommy feels sorry for herself and she feels sorry for her little boy who's getting sick for the first time. So now that we're both feeling better, I've been trying to play catchup. I have six shoots in the next six weeks. My parents are coming to town next week for three weeks. I just deleted 4893 spam emails from my work account. I have fifty-seven personal emails to respond to and not the kind that take one or two minutes. The kind where you want to take the time and write a long response to and thus you keep putting off. I have to clean up my house and get it ready for my parents' arrival. Not to mention, I might have to move in two months and thus look for a new place to live, pack up all of our crap and move and unpack all the crap. Just thinking about it all makes me want to burst into tears.
So that's my excuse for "coming back" and then disappearing almost right away. How did I do?
Projecting
I have noticed over the years that whenever I'm in a repeating group setup (like committee meetings, mom's groups, class, etc.) there are one or two people who immediately stick out to me. These few people give me the vibe that they dislike me. Right away, I feel uneasy around them and go home wondering why they dislike me so much.
Over the years, I've often felt self-conscious and sad that people don't like me. I've also noticed a pattern I go through when dealing with them. I first try to be really nice ("suck up") and see if I can change whatever it is that's making them unhappy with me. After a few weeks of this, somewhere along the line, I decide I don't like them either. My dislike then grows stronger and stronger until I can't stand the person any longer.
Doesn't that sound fucked up to you? It does to me.
On Sunday, while reading Paolo Coelho's new novel, I realized something. My current theory is that I'm projecting. When I meet these people for the first time, there's something about me that I dislike that I see in them. Something about them reminds me of myself and I pick up on it without knowing it.
All those weeks I spend sucking up to them, I am really looking for reasons to blame them for not living up to my expectations of liking me. And then the whole thing, as expected, falls apart and now I hate them. When all along I set the whole thing up without realizing it. I don't know if this is true but it's my current theory. So next time I get this feeling, I am going to work hard to pinpoint where it's coming from.
Or it could just be that they really don't like me and I am not projecting or being paranoid.
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