The Slippery Slippery Slope
What is it about personally turning a new decade number that is so disarming? We don't think we belong with that group, surely we don't. Those people seem so much older than we do. We have all had that feeling when we have attended a high school reunion. Who are those old people? Whether a person is turning 40, 50, 60, it still seems to happen to us. We want to disown the truth. The new number, whatever it is, is hard to get out of our mouths, "th-th-th-irty or se-se-se-seventy."
As a Counselor, I work with psychological diagnosis, one of which is Adjustment Disorder. People have this disorder when they go thorough a severe crisis, such as a divorce, loss of job, death of a loved one. This is what I am having right now, Adjustment Disorder. I am trying to accept a new number and my mind just cannot get around it. I say to myself, "How did this happen?" What a silly question. We say a lot of silly things when we are creeping towards a new number.
Ok, my crisis is not a serious one, it just feels like it at the moment. Walking the path to my next birthday feels like a slippery slope; unsteady, unfamiliar and unnerving. Perhaps you know what I mean.
Experience tells me that approaching that next birthday is the hard part, like diving into cold water. Once you shiver a bit and paddle around it is not so bad. So, to find my balance and chronicle my journey I have decided to blog about leaving my 60's and turning.....well, you know.
Experience tells me that approaching that next birthday is the hard part, like diving into cold water. Once you shiver a bit and paddle around it is not so bad. So, to find my balance and chronicle my journey I have decided to blog about leaving my 60's and turning.....well, you know.
Enjoying your blog... eager to hear more of my dear cousin's life... This birthday will soon be past and you'll do just fine.. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the paddling in cold water metaphor! The challenge is having the courage to jump...so I wish you strength as you approach the end of the diving board in the coming weeks! Tim
ReplyDeleteI chuckle at the memory of your 40th celebration...and how "disarming" that number was for you as the waiters hoisted you high in the air on a chair...and, oh my, I also have some sweet recollections of your 50th (now, was it the rollerblading excursion or hot air ballooning? either way, it was memorable!) We've had some very awesome celebrations over these decades, dear friend...and I'll be eager to follow your blog & learn of your joyous journey ahead! hugs!
ReplyDeleteAnother decade can be disarming. More the thought than the realism of the thing. Oh, what a difference a day makes!! Why is it one day we are in our 50's and everything is going along just fine and then, at the chime of the clock, we slip over into the 60's and the thoughts rush in. I don't seem to have any more wrinkles than I did yesterday.....things seem to be in the same spot they were the day before. Yet, as we cross the line, something happens. It will be intriguing to hear what feeds this phenomenon and would like to join you in this journey, dear friend.
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