tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15941453.post8749354350332690843..comments2023-03-27T03:02:03.023-07:00Comments on Haggard Mom: And Once Again I Seem to Drop off the Map...haggardmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09097049689417059046noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15941453.post-74307490599551870842011-11-12T12:44:14.313-08:002011-11-12T12:44:14.313-08:00@Michael- it's funny, another friend asked me ...@Michael- it's funny, another friend asked me recently if I ever wrote stories. But no, I am a horrible writer. My brain is often jumbled, like someone who has ADD. That's why I prefer journaling, because it doesn't matter. I've been doing some painting, and some beadwork.<br /><br />@Cathy- I am working to let go of the notion that what other people think of my emotional state matters so much. It's hard to let go of what society drills into us, such as the notion of 'normal' relationships...haggardmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09097049689417059046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15941453.post-71930634428909825342011-11-11T07:10:28.787-08:002011-11-11T07:10:28.787-08:00I hope your tattoo experience is fun and affirming...I hope your tattoo experience is fun and affirming. I don't think feelings are very tidy things. Over time, we can learn to modulate them some -- while still feeling their intensity -- if we're able to accept them and accept ourselves for having them. Writing, art, and gardening help me feel them when they're raw, and then I'm able to share parts of them with others. In my 30s I realized that my feelings belonged to me, and they didn't have to be understood, processed or transformed by anyone else for them to be real.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15941453.post-85671991823757540932011-11-11T05:25:45.543-08:002011-11-11T05:25:45.543-08:00"be a better blogger ..." Yeah, that has..."be a better blogger ..." Yeah, that has a ring. <br /><br />Write. I don't mean "journal" or "diary" writing, although that could be good. I mean, write stories. November is National Novel Writing Month. http://www.nanowrimo.org.<br /><br />Or, write songs or music; paint, draw. Something that draws on emotions. <br /><br />I don't know that "expressing" feelings is as important as making something of them. Novelist/poet Margaret Atwood once told an interviewer, "I don't write to express myself. If I wanted to express myself, I could go out in the back field and scream." ;-) But there is no doubt about the emotion behind much of her writing.<br /><br />There can be a challenge to changing behavior. People who know and like you the way you are sometimes don't like it when you change. When I quit drinking, there were people who tried to get me to have a beer with them. Women who go on Weight Watchers or some similar regimen often find that friends are offering them high-calorie foods to subvert "the new you."<br /><br />But, I'm firmly in the camp of "Yes, you can."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com