Thoughts On Drama
First of all, Big Thanks to all those who shared their secrets - made me feel like I was in good company. You are awesome. Feel free to keep sharing them!
I've been thinking about addictions of late. Not your well documented alcohol or cigarettes or any of the hardcore scariness. I've actually been considering the possibility of a drama addiction. Now by drama I don't mean prancing around in Robin Hood tights, crying for Juliet and craving the stage lights. I'm talking about life drama, trauma, bad circumstance, Lemony Snickett's Unfortunate Events.
Is it possible to be addicted to upheaval?
I know the typical definition of a drama queen (I should, I've been hosting the luncheons for years) these are people who turn mild crises into catastrophies by their attitude and actions alone. However I think there are people who sit on the other side of this coin. The drama addicts. People who have had so many negative circumstances that they become addicted to the hardship of their lives. It is a slippery slope. Do not get me wrong, these people are not the same as the compassion-mongers that search for things to complain about in order to receive sympathy from friends and family, this is worse. Drama addicts actually THRIVE on the hardships in their lives. They use their negative experiences as a rush, a fix, an event to be anticipated, a problem to live through. The drama becomes the driving principle behind their exsistance, and without it they are lost. I know I've wished before that I would break my arm just to shake up my routine, to face the challenge, to do things one-handed and see what would change in my life. The pain would be worth it to me in that circumstance. However, that is not what drives me to get up everyday. There is a fine line between wishing for these things and causing them to happen. Anybody ever thought about steering their car off the road just to see what would happen? I'm not talking about suicide, just the trauma of the accident that would be such a rush. The incident that would shake things up, get the adrenaline moving, cause others around to take notice. What would change? How would people react? How would you react? It opens up a plethera of questions that were non-existant without that one incident. The anarchy of that one moment changes everything. Hmmm....
I guess I have no actual point, just wondering if anybody else has ever thought about these things before.
Just to disclaimer, these thoughts don't come from any scary source, they are just thoughts, I don't want any Help-Line numbers, I'm just diving into the psyche, not falling off the edge - so don't worry.
I've been thinking about addictions of late. Not your well documented alcohol or cigarettes or any of the hardcore scariness. I've actually been considering the possibility of a drama addiction. Now by drama I don't mean prancing around in Robin Hood tights, crying for Juliet and craving the stage lights. I'm talking about life drama, trauma, bad circumstance, Lemony Snickett's Unfortunate Events.
Is it possible to be addicted to upheaval?
I know the typical definition of a drama queen (I should, I've been hosting the luncheons for years) these are people who turn mild crises into catastrophies by their attitude and actions alone. However I think there are people who sit on the other side of this coin. The drama addicts. People who have had so many negative circumstances that they become addicted to the hardship of their lives. It is a slippery slope. Do not get me wrong, these people are not the same as the compassion-mongers that search for things to complain about in order to receive sympathy from friends and family, this is worse. Drama addicts actually THRIVE on the hardships in their lives. They use their negative experiences as a rush, a fix, an event to be anticipated, a problem to live through. The drama becomes the driving principle behind their exsistance, and without it they are lost. I know I've wished before that I would break my arm just to shake up my routine, to face the challenge, to do things one-handed and see what would change in my life. The pain would be worth it to me in that circumstance. However, that is not what drives me to get up everyday. There is a fine line between wishing for these things and causing them to happen. Anybody ever thought about steering their car off the road just to see what would happen? I'm not talking about suicide, just the trauma of the accident that would be such a rush. The incident that would shake things up, get the adrenaline moving, cause others around to take notice. What would change? How would people react? How would you react? It opens up a plethera of questions that were non-existant without that one incident. The anarchy of that one moment changes everything. Hmmm....
I guess I have no actual point, just wondering if anybody else has ever thought about these things before.
Just to disclaimer, these thoughts don't come from any scary source, they are just thoughts, I don't want any Help-Line numbers, I'm just diving into the psyche, not falling off the edge - so don't worry.
posted by Rach at 2:01 PM
3 Comments:
I find when I have those thoughts, it is best for one to act rationally. I take a breath, pause and listen to the voice in my head that makes the most sense.
There's a fantastic stand-up routine by on James Carey that speaks to this exactly. "Should I stick my fingers into the fan, or leave the room now...should I run the blade of this razor across my tongue, or just keep shaving...We all have that little voice insdie of us that says, 'Ah, ah, ah, turning the car into oncoming traffic would be counter-productive'"
I know exactly what you mean Rach. I often desire for something dramatic in my life to happen: cancer, paralysis, bad hair day. Whenever I haer stories about people who have lost limbs or had big accidents I wonder how I would cope and move on with my life, not for sympathy as you said, but just to have something really huge to change my life.
Your blog is turning into a very theraputic place!
In the realm of counselling you do run across a "type" (bad word for a person...) who seems to thrive on manufactured crises. There are people who thrive on the rush of crises for several reasons. The rescuing phenomenon that takes place (this is sometimes done as a test of friendship/love). There are also those who manufacture crises out of an immature emotional life: they don't know how to have an emotional life apart from drama/crisis, and so this is a way for them to feel and be emotionally alive. Yeah, there's a lot out there in people's emotional lives that gets mixed up with the whole drama thing...
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