Important to make this distinction. When someone asks me how things are going is a very different question than when someone asks me how I am doing. So easily I can forget that I am not synonymous with what my life looks like. Or feels like. I was trained to show well. My mother the portrait photographer drilled us to smile that "everything you see here is just great" smile. She became a master at disguising families who showed up at any level of disarray and dysfunction and creating an image that could project health, harmony, and perfection. When our own family's number came up to sit annually for a portrait what ensued on Family Picture Day became one of the biggest fights of the year. Screaming, swearing, glaring, sneers and tears all ceased when the shutter clicked. We just needed one good one. Although the whole roll of film tells a complete story, one frame can restate a narrative
How are you doing? Great. How are things going? Terrible. Life can be falling apart around me and yet I can be doing fairly well. Life can also be running fairly smoothly and it I feels as if I'm falling apart. My reflection is not always defined by my the details of my life however it is tough to not intentionally reveal an incongruous projection of my situation either.
It can be tricky though to work as a psychotherapist. Folks are coming to me to gain health and happiness and although I may not be a pretty picture of either - I sell potential.
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