Interlude: I wasn’t expecting to be so pleasantly surprised.
This is not part of the series I’m writing, which is why it’s called an interlude. :)
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A collection of days ago, my bullshit meter hit an all time high and my fuck-it-set-it-on-fire protocol kicked in. C-PTSD is an extra bitch and a half when you’ve got ADHD. I don’t even know what triggered this multiple day somatically charged anxiety spiral, whether it’s a culmination of a lot of little things, or the C-PTSD fairies decided I was due. The result of it was me deciding to no longer hold back or alter what I want to say to soften its tone in comments anymore. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting but what I got blew me away.
This is the moment where I want to take a moment to call a few people out. Steve Henty, Alastair, and Puddles. I wanted to talk to all of you collectively as I think you deserve the recognition. You didn’t push back or diminish or even make any attempt at tone policing or “not all men”-ing my comments. You engaged. You’ve heard the bear versus man argument and even you chose the bear. You made room for my anger instead of trying to chase it away or control it. You sat with what I said and responded honestly, sometimes even matching my own dark humor with a helpful tip that can come in handy when I’m writing those scenes to work out my anger on the page instead of in the flesh.
I want you to know how much I appreciate that and bring attention to you three because it isn’t about whether you agreed with me or not, it was about how you both acknowledged, and made space for my anger without trying to control it. It was more than just being heard, which is undeniably huge in and of itself, it was also the way you each made space for emotions that most others can’t hardly stand to look at. Thank you for reminding me that there are still good men out there.
