Drama

I am my most content when my daily life is routine. Work is good, school is good, the Mister’s work is good, the kids are doing good in school, there’s nothing going on with the rest of the family, life is good. (This usually coincides with not having talked with anyone in our families for a week or longer.) The occasional bits of drama can stir things up and maybe even add a little excitement, but if I had my choice, I’d choose plain and boring. For the most part, drama gives me headaches, insomnia, and raises my blood pressure. I can tell because my hands and feet swell up. This can’t possibly be good for one’s health, right? Remember my TV drama from last week…My hands and feet were so swollen that day that I couldn’t make a fist and I could barely walk. I consciously decided not to let it bother me so much. It is, after all, only a TV.

I also think that the word “family” should be synonymous with the word “drama”. Even in “normal” families (and I have no idea what normal would be) drama happens. Families have many different personalities within them so drama is pretty much inevitable.

Friends can come with drama too, either their own or from their friends and family. I think this is why I tend to distance myself from people. I have enough drama in my own family and I can’t get rid of them so I keep other people at arm’s length. NONE of my closest friends live within a days drive of me. Their drama comes via their blogs or the phone. I actually don’t mind this. It reminds me that there are people out there with more drama than me and crazier families than my own. ;) The only “friend” that I have here in N.C. I pushed away and haven’t spoken to in over a month. This person is NOT happy unless they have at least three sources of drama in their life and they like to share the pain with everyone around them. I think this is unhealthy and it stresses me out badly.

The Mister hates drama even more than I do. I think it’s because of his feelings that he sometimes recognizes it when I don’t. He is my rock in more ways than one. He is the best judge of people that I know. He’s only been wrong about one person in the 13 years that I’ve known him. It’s like a sixth sense with him.

I've also learned that no matter how far away you live from certain sources of drama that it's never far enough. It's too easy to phone, text, Plurk, Pownce, Twitter, blog, or e-mail your drama to other people these days.

Certain other people crave drama. If they don’t have any drama in their life, they create it. I think it can even be an addiction. I wonder if drama addicts recognize this addiction within themselves. Maybe some do and like the drama so much that they don’t care that it can be toxic. They feed off of it. I’m sure drama probably raises endorphin levels or some such thing in some people. It makes them feel good or powerful and in control of some aspect of their life.

I wish I had tips for avoiding drama altogether but drama=life and life=drama. Although, maybe something like wine or Demerol or something like that could make you not care about the drama but then that could turn into a whole new addiction. ;)