A wild animal trapped in a cage prompts reflections on feelings of helplessness. Paralleling personal experiences with perfectionism and anxiety, the writer promotes balancing high standards with self-compassion.
Balance
Caring
I worked with a girl at the front desk of a hotel and it was her last week working there. Throughout the week, whenever talking with her about something that would go wrong, a guest was being rude, or whatever, she would apathetically respond to it with, “Ask me if I care.” If you were […]
Learning to Juggle
When learning how to juggle, you are taught how to toss and catch just one ball before adding a second. You then are to master juggling two before adding a third, and so on. Everyone who can juggle though, has a limit to how many objects they can juggle at one time before everything comes […]
Homeostasis
What does it mean when something is in homeostasis? Well, if you’re a cell, it means you’re regulating internal stability in order to function properly. But we’re not just a cell; we’re multitudes of integrated cells. We’re an organism. As humans, we’re… special. We can reason, have empathy, we’re emotional… if an adult human does […]
The Dangers of Tenacity
Imagine that you’re training for a long distance run such as a marathon. You may start by running just a couple of miles, give or take. Then you’d probably run a little farther the next week. You’d run farther and farther and maybe even a little faster too until you start feel a little confidence […]
Ambivalence
Our sweet Annie is missing. She’s about 15 years old with the soul of young, cheerful puppy. When she wags her little, stubby tail, her whole body wags with it. My husband and I are outside for about an hour searching for her. We check under the deck, down the road, and through the woods. […]