Different Cries

My son has different cries. One cry is all about needing food. Another cry is telling me he has a loaded diaper. A third cry is his call to be held. And still, another cry is all about him just being fussy and angry for little to no reason at all.

Learning these cries has taken me pretty much his whole life. These cries are all symptoms of the issue they represent. They are probably indistinguishable to other people and sound only like a baby crying. Annoying. And crying.

What I am now considering is how I too have symptoms. When I am hungry, I get grumpy and short tempered. When I am tired, I become frustrated and apathetic. To everyone else, I am unpleasant to be around and a nuisance.

The only difference between my symptoms and his symptoms is about 30.5 years.

The only difference between my symptoms and the symptoms of the people I see around me is understanding. I understand and know my symptoms. I do not know the symptoms of my neighbor, their nuance, and their meanings.

When my symptoms start showing, I need to take a deep breath, pause, and remember how my symptoms can hurt the people around me.

What are your symptoms? Who helps you stay in check? How do your symptoms affect the people around you?

Symptomatically,

–JT

Love the post? Please share it on Facebook or support me on Patreon

Overreacting

Recently I spoke with my counselor about how I overreact and get angry. We had a good conversation about my and getting angry and overreacting. I do not act this way often. Truly, maybe once a month or less at the least and every couple of weeks at most. Usually I am overreacting to my wife about something rather small and inconsequential. We talked about this for a little while and it mostly boils down to being aware of where I am at. I lose touch with reality for a few minutes and literally just explode from inside myself. The issue comes up, some thing that irritates me happens for, what seems like, the one trillionth time and I explode. Or maybe someone simply does something that I think is well outside the bounds of ordinary human actions and I way overreact. The simple solution is, I need to pay attention to myself. 

Did someone just do something that bugged me? 

Was my reaction to shove it down into some sort of perceivable “bottomless pit?”

Will this pit actually fill up with false beliefs about the other person I’m talking to?

Should I just say something right now while I am healthy and we can have a grown–up conversation about the whole thing and move on?

The answer to the fourth question, if you didn’t guess it, is, ‘yes.’ The answer to all the questions is, ‘yes.’ However, the fourth question is the right course of action for me. 

How aware are you of where you are at in the moment? Are you paying attention enough to notice things that needed to be talked about before you end up in an unhealthy place? Are you saying something?

Peacefully,

–JT