Saturday, March 3, 2012

Social graces

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much is too much to publicly display, emotionally, I mean. Are we being destructive socially by publicly displaying emotion before it is under control? Mostly I am thinking of times of disappointment or irritation. Disagreement or anger. At one point in history such emotions were displayed only, if at all, in private. Now we react before we have a chance to process. Perhaps it is just me. Is it truly false of us to take in information in mixed company, process through it privately or with those closest to us before expressing some part of the original emotion, now hopefully under control, publicly? And then only when necessary! Surely there must be a way to do so without constantly pretending to be something we are not.

I over-express. I'm a drama queen. It comes naturally. Sometimes I play it up purposefully. I fear it stopped being amusing long ago. There is something to be said for accepting what is before me, internalizing it well, keeping a calm exterior and waiting to deal with the emotion from the situation at a suitable time. Not everyone and their second cousin twice removed needs to know how I feel about every single thing in my life.

Stress simply breeds more stress. If I have to have an emotion that plagues those around me, it should be joy. If I have an attitude that rubs off on others in my life, it should be thankfulness. I want my home to be a place of joy and thanksgiving, filled with laughter and talking, curiosity and learning. Perhaps if I stop myself from overreacting in the moment, I will stop overreacting period. Miracles do happen, my friends.

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