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Humble Pie

So.  It would seem that I am a bit of a hypocrite.

Bernie called me on Saturday to let me know he’d be disappearing into the mountains for about a week, possibly more.  He’s been dealing with some difficult stuff and needed to get away from the stress and figure things out. 

My immediate reaction was that I would miss him.  And then I was slightly irritated, because I thought, “Is this how he deals with conflict?  Leaving?  Must be nice to be able to be that irresponsible.” Not a nice thought, I know.  (I am so MEAN sometimes!  I’ve been praying about this a lot; I have such mean thoughts and I hate it!) 

Last night, I broke the news to my parents that it’s probable that I’ll be losing my job again this year.  Later on in the conversation, I mentioned my upcoming trip to the Smokies. 

“Umm… if you’re going to be unemployed, don’t you think you should be saving your money instead of taking a vacation?” my mom asked.

“Mom, you don’t understand.  My trip would be the same week I find out if I’m losing my job.  If I get bad news, I just need to disappear into the mountains to figure things out.  That’s what I need to be happy and emotionally healthy.” 

And as soon as I said that, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’m Bernie.” 

It seems irresponsible for him to just take off, but there’s no reason why he can’t.  When I’m depressed, the only thing I want is to be outside- desert, mountains, doesn’t matter, as long as I’m alone and in a beautiful place.  If I were Bernie, I would have done the same thing. 

I don’t know if he knows how annoyed with him I was, but when he gets back, I owe him an apology. 

Comments

Whitney said…
Don't be too hard on yourself...I think a lot of us have strong emotional reactions at times that come from things that are lurking on the horizon/under the surface of getting through everyday life. Especially being far away from someone you'd really like to spend time with, it's hard to get news that they will be even less available to you, especially at a time when you are stressed by other things. I go through it with Abu, too...I'm feeling stressed, and then he tells me he's going to be gone during our usual times to talk for a few days, and instead of feeling glad that he's going to see his friends and get some recharge time from his own stresses, I feel disappointed and sometimes verge on resentful. It takes some time to collect myself and realize that I'm also stressed and am experiencing a mix of disappointment at getting less time to talk with him and a bit of jealousy that I don't have something similar to take my mind off of things. Realizing where my reaction is coming from helps me feel better and react in a way that is both true to where I am and understanding of his needs, too. It sounds like you had that process, which is great - self awareness is not an easy skill for most of us!

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