With apologies to Katrina and the Sunshine Band!
“Walking on Eggshells” has the potential to be a hit country song. After all, that is where heartbreak is laid bare.
We spend a lot of time worrying about what others think of us.
What part of our brain decides that what other people say, or how they treat us, is so important that it trumps almost every other facet of our being.
ALL SYSTEMS ON HIGH ALERT. HEART HAS BEEN ATTACKED! BRAIN PROCESSING FOR FORSEEABLE FUTURE. ALL OTHER TASKS ARE NOW ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!!
While we are not immune, I think as we get older, we develop better coping skills. We have a “f**k it” button. It is right beside the “I don’t give a shit” button and close to the “I’m too old for this crap” button.
That said, emotional trauma, has a way of slithering through the cracks and finding a way to infiltrate from time to time. Every once in a while emotional hell takes over and ravages your being. You go from “I don’t give a crap”, to what have I done to deserve this – and back again.
Why does it rip at your heart when someone accuses you of doing them a dirty, when you think that all you have done is share love and kindness?
Goodness gracious, humans are complicated. Sometimes I look at my dog and think, man you have a good life. Someone feeds you, pampers you, baths you, and even picks up your poop. All you have to do is wag your tail!
Perception VS Reality.
We are all built differently. Some of us wear our emotions on our sleeves and share our love and emotions freely. Some are intensely private and share nothing, wanting no one to know “their business”.
Neither can understand the other. And therein lies the problem.
If you scroll through social media, there is an entire cottage industry, advising on how to handle emotional trauma. Such as:
In many cases, it would be preferable to be hit in the head with a brick, rather than hit in the ear with hurtful words. Physical pain passes. Emotional pain festers, sometimes for decades. There is no way to expunge it.
Even the toughest of us, feel the sharpness of words, though we may react very differently. Some lash out, some bury it deep inside and pretend it never happened.
What I have chosen to do, is to be thankful for what I do have – and not stress about not being appreciated, or the perception thereof.
Eggshells have many good uses. But walking on them is not one of them.
From my heart to yours, may 2025 give you comfort and happiness.
Embrace what you have and those that love you.
You be you. That is good enough.
Maybe try wagging your tail.