Camping isn’t just a tent and a campfire. It’s an experience.
Wow! That was an intense week.
I got to do all kinds of fun things while I was gone last week. I got to party, and watch live performances. I got to see presentations, and awards given out. I got inspired, and I got a lot of free drinks.
What I wasn’t expecting, was the sheer number of people at Estrella War (an SCA event) who came up to me and talked to me about my blog. I didn’t even know most of these people, and the rest I didn’t know very well. I talked to people about my own past experiences. I listened while people expressed their own feelings of short-coming, and low self esteem. I heard stories, and shared my own.
And you wanna know what I got out of it? A very sad, but humbling realization. I have always heard that “No matter how bad you may have it, someone else out there has it worse”. Well, it turns out, I may have pleasure of knowing everyone has it better than me. Not in the whole world, of course. But I still haven’t found many cases of first world families less functional than mine, and none that had the horrors to deal with that my brothers and I endured.
Now, I am in no way trying to go all “woe is me”. I am in fact very happy with being in this position. It means that no one has had to suffer the same things I have. It also means I have the ability to help people put their own issues into perspective.
One woman shared that she was sometimes caught by her children “just crying for no reason.” She didn’t seem to be able to talk to her children frankly about her depression. I told her what I do with my kids. When I am particularly upset, or think I may cry unexpectedly, I warn the kids that I am sad, and that they shouldn’t be concerned if I cry. When I do cry, I remind them that it’s not their fault, and there is nothing they can do to make it better, other than just go about their normal routines.
She seemed a bit shocked at the idea of being so frank about her depression with her children. I just told her that the greater damage would be done if her children always thought it was their fault, or worse, that their mother didn’t trust them. Being honest with everyone around you is the only way to ensure that they understand, and to keep your relationships healthy.
This was just one short part of just one of the many impromptu conversations I had this last week. However, it stood out nonetheless. I hope you all didn’t miss me too much. I also hope everyone out there is happy and healthy. Keep in touch!
Also, I am putting up the first anonymous story up on facebook.com/terminallyintelligent today. I hope you all take the time to start looking out for those.