With families, we feel love. Through families, we experience security. Within families, we have crazy. I confess. In my loving, secure family, I was the “Crazy.”
How to Lose Your Sanity in 10 Easy Steps, written by Lara Nemell-Barette, was recently posted on BLOGHER. The post is hilarious and true. It’s spiced with a few expletives, but, I related to every step! In fact, it’s the inspiration for this blog.
Take it from me, you never want to be the crazy family member. But, just in case you do, here are 5 sure ways to get there.
5 Sure Ways to Become the “Crazy” in the Family!
- Never say how you truly feel because you don’t want to hurt another’s feelings. The crazy ones are not always the screaming relatives who will tell you exactly how they feel. (They may be rude or unthoughtful, but not crazy). The crazy person is you or me trying to get everyone to love us by never expressing our true feelings. Stop that! Express your true feelings when asked! Defend yourself if needed. But remember the Golden Rule: “Speak to others the way you’d like to be spoken to.”
- Compare yourself to another family member. Maybe you look up to all the successful, high achievers in your family. Maybe, you are the only high achiever in your family and don’t understand why the others won’t get off their duff! Either way, if you’re always measuring yourself against someone else, you lose. We all have different purposes and callings in life. Start putting all your efforts into being the person you were created to be!
- Make sure everything you do is perfect (My Way or the Highway). It is not that anything we perfectionists do is ever perfect. It’s that we drive ourselves crazy trying to make it perfect. So, we’re always finding fault, procrastinating, making excuses, trying to outdo, regretting, etc. Start experiencing joy in what you do by giving it your best. Afterward, create time to relax and rest.
- Take care of everyone else. Spend every day making sure all the fully-abled adults in your life are taken care of. Rescue your grown children over and over. Keep trying to change your spouse. Constantly lecture the addict. What’s missing here? Your life.
- Believe everything your preteen and teenage children say. If you never have to speak to a child, ignore this part. If your children and grandchildren won’t lie to you before you can blink, ignore this part. For the rest of us, accept the fact that our children may tend to give us their “version” of the truth. Trust me. Teachers are far too busy to make up lies about your child!
Our crazy is often rooted in generational strongholds of toxic emotions. Click here to discover ways to break free of the harmful emotions.
Question: Have you ever been the “Crazy” in your family? How so? You can leave a comment by clicking here. (You can read my Comments Policy by clicking here.)
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