Boredom or Bedlam: Are You An Emotional Cutter?
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.” ~ Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing
When raised with cracked foundations of chaos, it's easy for us to understand how as adults we feed off drama. Up is down and right is left. We know better, but it doesn't stop us from running with the proverbial scissors that cut up personal happiness and responsibility, leaving a trail of regret.For so many of us, chaos is fuel. It's our oxygen when the poor choices we make ignite anxiety within the walls of fear. We cannot breathe until the risk of losing our breath is born from our own doing. Anything else is boring.Although each slice is hidden deep inside our psyche, emotional cutting - hurting ourselves to feel - is just as damaging as the physical act itself.*
"Self-harm is a way of expressing and dealing with deep distress and emotional pain. As counterintuitive as it may sound to those on the outside, hurting yourself makes you feel better - Cutting and Self-Harm (www.helpguide.org)
Life is not a straight line for any of us. For adult children of dysfunction, it's a barbed wire maze of self-sabotage that draws blood with every turn. And the puncture wounds make us feel alive.It's hard to understand unless you're in it. Even more difficult to rationalize when we're the ones orchestrating our own pain. It's cool when our loved ones support us, but we know they don't really get why we continue to be the architect of our own demise. Neither do we.So how do we turn off the auto-pilot road to self-destruction? For starters, it's a good idea to get real. I'm not talking about saying the words people want to hear. This is about digging deep. Shred the years of layered bullshit you've been telling yourself and speak from deep inside your truth. It's not fun; it can actually be scary. But everything boils down to the ugly truth: we cannot make it through the painful maze without actually going through it. Feel the pain. Weep. Wail. Then scream into the air (or a pillow, so your neighbors don't call the cops). Just get it the fuck out.Since I can remember I've been living some version of the truth, which is a colorful way of saying lie. What began as floating in a sea of self-medication [insert your vice here], quickly morphed into believing the bullshit I was telling myself.I'm fine. I can handle it. They are the ones with the problem. I know what I'm doing. I don't need anyone. I'm not lonely. Living a lie is exhausting. Yet so many of us do it because we're afraid of facing the shit that caused us to take comfort in our bullshit in the first place.
One of my best friends jokes about how we're so much alike - and should be wrapped in caution tape. And I'm not kidding when I say 'I'm such a work in progress I should wear orange cones for earrings'. Humor is nothing if not effective when it comes to getting real.But get real, we must. Whether it's telling a friend, teacher, boss, relative or therapist - we need to share our truth.The healing begins when we stop pretending.The first person you need to share your dark truth with is the most important person in your world - you. You're no good to anyone if you're no good to yourself. It's time to stop buying your lies, and start getting real. We are worth it. If you don't believe this, it's because believing we have no value is the biggest lie of all. Take back your truth. It all starts with the decision to try.*I am not an expert in mental health. This blog is a platform to express my own opinions and beliefs based on personal experience. If you or anyone you know is suffering, please reach out to a professional and seek help. You are worth it - even if you don't feel it right now. 