Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Super Woman Burns Out . Part 1


  
"Right on Eh!" - Jude Johannson
 I have been plagued with stress my whole life and at times, confessed myself a professional worrier! After all, both parents were and so it’s in the genes and I have come by it naturally. (That’s my excuse anyhow) I have, at different times fought and warred against worry and stress using a few tools like denial, escapism, and procrastination. Oh and morphing myself into crazy comedic characters and writing music have certainly helped me too and I have managed to make a career out of them. How fun is that?.
I have indulged in stimulants and self medicated with the likes of alcohol, drugs, dreaming too much, and yes I suppose, even sex. Oh and food – big time! I used to have an addiction to it. As a teen I secretly couldn't wait to go babysitting, just to check out the fridge and cupboard! Smoked oysters were a favourite ( But remember to discard the can...the smell is a dead give away)
Ah such a delicacy...or so I thought!
   Shopping therapy 101 has also served its purposes. Going to Value Villauge` (Needs to be pronounced with French accent) proves to be very medicinal. One can indulge in 2 hours of rummaging and trying on,  then walk out of the store with 3 large bags of “new”, gently used clothing, all for less than 50 bucks! Now that’s retail therapy! And who doesn’t LOVE a good deal? In fact a little known secret is, the gorgeous black dress I wore for  the cover for my Christmas CD was purchased at the trendy Value Villauge`. I  wore it to an awards show too!
Little black dress.

   But many years have gone by and I have matured into a middle aged woman. (That is really hard to write) It doesn't help matters I recently discovered as of Jan 22nd I will be eligible for the Seniors’ Menu at IHOP 
(That stands for International House of Pancakes). Who knew?

    The stresses of this fast paced crazy world – which include running my own music and speaking business, have begun to look quite different than when I was in survival mode as a young farm girl grappling with sexual abuse, my father’s drinking, his mental illness and eventual suicide, not to mention my mother’s affair and a host of other deep dark family secrets. No wonder I gravitated to the daytime TV soaps like "Another World", "The Young and the Restless" and later on, "Dallas". They were familiar to me because my life was and has been a soap opera.


Rare snow in Vancouver!
   One year ago after living in the Toronto area for 35 years of my life, our family quickly moved lock, stock and barrel to the other side of the country, to beautiful British Columbia, outside of Vancouver. Oh sure we did some purging including 2 garage sales, a snow blower and winter tires (Cause it doesn’t snow in Vancouver….much, or so they say) but basically moved our ‘stuff’ from our four bedroom home, which included three businesses, a recording studio, two cars, 1 dog, oh yes and one 88 year old mother in law… along with all of her ‘stuff’! And before our move we moved our son into a student house for his second year of university with all if his own ‘stuff’. We said our teary good- byes and then we were off!
Ready for the long haul!

   To be continued.....


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