Edits. Hair style. Hair color. Filler for wrinkles. An inch or two in height? Well, the list goes on. And then there are the personality traits, economic status, education, bespoke wardrobe, and jobs—snip, snip, and edit.
Change too much, and our close kin would not recognize us…although maybe that’s another edit: spouse, parents, kids, or whole kindred. But you say, ” I just want a little tweak!” It’s like editing a story. You change the wording, and you alter the direction of the story. Sometimes it’s a better story. But that sentence or paragraph you edit out changes the entire storyline.
Admittedly, there are things worth changing: dangerous health statuses, pathological conditions, and mental illnesses strike me as worthwhile things to snip out.
But don’t yield to temptation. Do the hard work of making the change, not just wishing for the unattainable. Don’t just tease and fool around. Commit to easing out of that bad habit: smoking, alcohol, or recreational drugs, or overeating or behavioral quirk.
Back in the old days, we used to toss around the phrase ” get your head straight.” As though it was that easy. It took me years to quit smoking, and years additionally to quit drinking. So I know that, for most of us, it’s not a switch we flip. Not a fanciful edit – snip!
Taking a deep dive into personality, just as an amateur mind you, I don’t think that I just edited out the bad habits. I guess I gradually adjusted myself. It wasn’t a snip or a quick edit. It was a growth experience. I outgrew some things, my path was altered, and I was changed.
Magical thinking encourages the quick edit type of desire. But real change requires work.
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This is a timely message, Lou. I am a huge fan of therapy and have been trying to do the work of self-improvement for decades. Many in my family think counseling means you are admitting to being bad and broken and have some kind of heinous brain malfunction, but I never have thought that way. Anyway, timely because I have finally convinced Pedro to try it – he is of the same mind as my family. But I have always loved the idea of going to couples therapy while the couple is happy together – to learn better communication and better habits while we are prepared to work hard to keep the other person in our lives. He doesn’t agree, and doesn’t trust the process, but he does trust me. <3 I am so honored by his trust. We have been to one appointment, and he is willing to keep going.
Counseling and therapy, as you and I know, is an act of bravery. I believe that, plain and simple. People who enter therapy willingly are looking forward to a better future and taking the steps to attain that future.
It’s also the easier way to do it than toughing it out on your own.
An act of bravery. I had not thought of that, and it’s so true.
I’d like to be the undaunted person I was before my accident in January. I’m sick of being brave. On the other side, I AM brave so that’s a little something. 🤣
I agree you are brave. People who are not, just consiogn themselves to inaction, and you are continuing to push against the limits. Wisely, you are prudent in your pushing against the limit!🤣
Today I pushed against the electric snow shovel…