Archive for October, 2011


Fear


Fear is a funny thing…it creeps in and slowly takes over.    I am consumed by fear lately and I don’t know what to do.  My heart alternately races and pounds.  I just want some quiet…some calm…some peace.  I have had all I can take from my crazy job.  My bosses just keep piling it on and piling it on… it’s like they want to see what our breaking point is going to be.  If we get the work done by hook or by crook they just pile more on.  If we don’t get our work done we get in trouble.  If we ask for help or say we’re overwhelmed we are told we should practice better time management.  It really  is disappointing and frustrating and crazy-making.  I used to love my job, now I am consumed with anxiety every day when getting ready for work.  I just don’t know what to do.  I am afraid of losing my job and I am afraid if I stay I will go crazy. 

 

Siren


There’s something out there that is calling to me. 

I hear the voice clearly – haunting – chilling-alluring.

I long to follow… but I am so afraid.

It whispers, teases, shouts – and still I stand-

frozen and impotent.

When I break free of this I will run blindly

into that tantalizing music of freedom

and find my laughter waiting for me there.

Toxic Parents


I am reading this book by Susan Forward called Toxic Parents (Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life).  I am really enjoying it so far.  I can see a little of my family in each chapter.  I grew up alternately feeling invisible and feeling conspicuous. There was a part of me that longed to be seen, to be known and accepted… yet – there was another part of me that waned to hide, that wanted to blend into the background as to avoid pain.  It was a mass of confusion.   Having on the one hand parents who gave us gifts and spent time with us and took us on vacations… and on the other hand those same parents systematically broke us into pieces.  My father would call me beautiful, then accuse me of being vain in virtually the same breath.  My mother just stood by and did what-ever he wanted.  My father would get angry with us and whip us and my mother would have us go apologize to the man.   I never did understand what my crime was.  All these years later I still feel pulled apart by it all.  Will I ever be whole?

 

Mixed messages


Fall always makes me think of home.  I have so many good memories of this season… bonfires, roasting marshmallows, the smell of hay and sweet-feed in the barn mingled in with the smell of fresh milk after milking our cow…cool mornings being up before sunrise and looking up at the stars while tending to the animals… long evenings filled with family and music outside with lots of food and laughter and noise.  These are the things I miss about my family…my old home.  When I think of those cool nights when I would sneak out of the house and go for a walk by moon-light and listen to the call of the whippoorwills, I can’t remember why I was so unhappy there.  It’s like these good memories crowd out all the bad ones and I feel stupid for being so miserable.  Then I think about all the abuse, all the pain, the feeling that I was unseen, the feeling that I was property meant to serve a purpose in my home… and I remember.  I remember how alone I always felt. I remember having to act like a pretty little happy robot just to survive.  I remember how no negative emotion was allowed to show in my home. I remember being treated like a servant and not a daughter.  I remember being screamed at and berated… I remember.  Looking back all the things I loved most about my child-hood had nothing to do with the people and everything to do with the season, the activities, the animals, the sky… and I am determined to recapture that in my adulthood.  I am determined to stop… to look around… to enjoy this beautiful world and to recapture my youth.