Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Friend diet
A diet is supposed to help rid you of excess weight, baggage and make you feel better because you look better and have more self-control than the person next to you. What happens when you’re experiencing an excess of people? You’re overwhelmed by their problems—added calories. This friend is like a piece of chocolate cake; you feel good helping them, providing comfort, only to have a tummy ache afterwards. You choose to take a break. You have no choice but to purge yourself of the extra friend-calories you’re ingesting.
Even when you’re not hungry, you find yourself eating their emotions, insecurities, dramatic days and nights. They’re layered, with only the icing of your own problems in between. Soon, you’re feeling obese in their emotions and don’t see yourself in the mirror, but instead a magnified view of yourself. I see a person with a complexion that only stress or creamy chocolate can cause. Tired all day from my midnight snacks of concern and worry. Finally, before putting one more bite of sadness and pain in my mouth, I say “stop.” “I’m tired, I’m stressed, I’m worried, too.”
But nothing changes. In fact, once I took that piece of despair cake out of my mouth and put it back on the plate, another serving of whipped uncertainty was placed neatly on top. What now? How do you look someone’s pain in the face and put it down like a piece of unwanted cake?
The problem of adulthood is that everything can’t be remedied with sugar anymore. A German Chocolate friendship ends up leaving you lethargic and sad, when the sweet is gone and only a low blood sugar is left behind.
Even when you’re not hungry, you find yourself eating their emotions, insecurities, dramatic days and nights. They’re layered, with only the icing of your own problems in between. Soon, you’re feeling obese in their emotions and don’t see yourself in the mirror, but instead a magnified view of yourself. I see a person with a complexion that only stress or creamy chocolate can cause. Tired all day from my midnight snacks of concern and worry. Finally, before putting one more bite of sadness and pain in my mouth, I say “stop.” “I’m tired, I’m stressed, I’m worried, too.”
But nothing changes. In fact, once I took that piece of despair cake out of my mouth and put it back on the plate, another serving of whipped uncertainty was placed neatly on top. What now? How do you look someone’s pain in the face and put it down like a piece of unwanted cake?
The problem of adulthood is that everything can’t be remedied with sugar anymore. A German Chocolate friendship ends up leaving you lethargic and sad, when the sweet is gone and only a low blood sugar is left behind.
