Ever hear those tired old phrases about being the bigger person and rising above the drama? Yeah, I use them, too. They have fit into my life over many, many years, thanks to cast mates pushed onto this crazy stage called life, to co-star with me, like it or not.
I don’t know if it’s age, or just being happier in my life, or simple maturity (nah, probably not that one), but I feel like I have risen above so far that I can look down and shake my head sadly at the drama and pettiness that has been so omnipresent, it’s like the sky or the grass, just part of the scenery.
I accept my part in poking the bear with a stick at times, just to chuckle when it predictably roars, but since I did not bring this mess to the scene, I can’t remove it. That’s up to others who lug it around like an old friend, clutching it, unwilling to part with it. The best I can do is refuse to pick it up and carry around pieces of it for them anymore.
I know others in our lives are far from finished with this game. I know the badmouthing, hatefulness, and sniping will continue unabated. I am at a point where I find myself almost feeling sorry for them. They do it to themselves, yet it’s almost like they’re trapped in an oppressive cage of their own making, without the will or the knowledge to release themselves, to live any other way.
Life is really too short to waste it on thoughts, people, and activities that don’t bring anything of any true value to you. I wish others in the kids’ lives would open their eyes to that. God, how many more years have to be trashed with childish bullshit that, ultimately, doesn’t even matter?
I wish I could offer to help. I know it will be met with hostility and hissing and spitting, with foaming at the mouth and much gnashing of teeth. But it is very obvious that out of all the actors still assembled on this stage, I am much happier than they are, especially since I shifted to focusing on my life, my home, bettering myself, and turned my back on games and drama and all that silliness.
I think some people get so mired in their own negativity, they can’t squirm their way out on their own anymore. They have been that way so long, they no longer know any better, or realize that anything else exists. Everyone is as obsessed with this nonsense as they are, right?
Well, actually, no. I am perfectly content living my own life, picking on my husband, working on our home and our life together, playing in the dirt on occasion, finding another stray animal to spoil, losing myself in a book, watching my husband and the kids get silly and loud, shaking my head but secretly just feeling happy that they are happy.
That’s what is important to me. I regret any time I have wasted letting anything else steal that spotlight. I hope it’s not too late for everyone else on this stage. It doesn’t need to be.
That is their choice to make. I have already made mine.
Sweat & Sparkle 