It all started several weeks ago when I got into a hardcore SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET fixation over at Facebook regarding health care reform.
I started to go daffy, for real. I obsessed over arguments I was having in comments on my profile, as though it was somehow going to make a fucking difference. I posted video, articles, statistics, you name it, supporting the dire need for a public option in health care. I recounted personal stories of people in my own family, myself, being screwed by the private health insurance industry. I made an impeccable case, I felt.
Then I remembered, maybe too late, that if your mind is cemented shut because your ideology demands it, then no amount of facts will alter your reality.
But the entire ordeal really left me bitter. And with all of the shit I have to deal with in my life right now, being bitter over politics is not where I want to be.
At the same time, I realized I was spending entirely too much time online, upset, fretting over health care reform. This is something I care deeply about and have grave concerns regarding, to be sure. But fretting over it, arguing over the internet? It doesn’t make health care reform happen. All it does is make my life worse.
So I got off the internet for awhile. The timing was good, as I got incredibly busy at work. We’ve been having a lot of financial strain these days, what with recovering from my maternity leave. So I had to reopen my private practice, which is something I did not want to do.
But I had to do it, and I did do it, and I’m glad I did it. Not because we may begin to breathe a little more easily around here, but because though I’ve been a therapist (for teens and their families) for 11 years or so, there are some things I couldn’t see before I had my own kids. So taking clients again has led me to realize a lot of new things about parenting. Some of these things I’m filing for future reference, and one thing I’ll share with you right now.
When your baby gets to be around 15 years old, things are most likely going to suck. No matter what conventional wisdom has taught you, don’t let go. Pull that kid closer to you than ever. Hold them close like you did when they first popped out of you.
More on this later.
I hope you’re all well and that I can make a catch-up tour of blogs soon.
