Translate

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Nine Lives - Part III: High School Melodrama


high [adjective] to reach upward; elevated school [noun] an institution for instruction

High - School. Interesting name really. My experience was hardly "elevated" or "uplifted" and even though I got decent grades, my classes didn't instruct me on how to deal with life--or hurting, angry adults…much less insecure peers. I did my best trying to figure things out…wobbling and stumbling most of the way. 
People found entertaining ways to spread rumors about me...not that it was very difficult when my whole life seemed to be a public exhibit. Anyone who knew me in school could probably recall a time or two where something in my life was whisper-worthy. Yes, I was one of those people. The ones who you see crying, sitting in the middle of the school parking lot and think, "I wonder what their problem is? They are probably trying to get attention or something…" And that wouldn't be too far from the truth. I was dealing with more problems then I knew how to handle and I was looking for someone, anyone to hold my hand through it with me...

Soooo I began dating. What a great idea! Not that I consciously thought of it that way--but that's just what happened. Even when my mom told me I shouldn't, and my dad absolutely forbade it, (and would have killed me if he had known...) I jumped right in -- with my whole heart. And with my fairly unhealthy view of the male species, at sixteen, I ended up finding myself involved in a toxic, disastrous relationship. It was so much of a whirlwind, I didn't know which way was up and which way was down. My mom had gotten remarried, so she was fairly distracted when it came to noticing anything different about me. And if you were wondering where my dad was in all of this -- read Part II: The Readers Digest... 
The relationship I was in went from fun and happy to a tears and confusion all too quickly. I felt used, misled, broken hearted, and lost. "Coping" would hardly describe my state of being---I was in full blown survival mode. What is this love thing anyway? Is it supposed to hurt this much? What am I doing to cause all of this? Can't things just run smoothly for once?! Won't somebody please just love me?!

Then, somewhere near my seventeenth year of life, my mom found herself getting another divorce and I found myself pregnant. I was scared to death to tell anyone. Finally I managed up the courage to tell my mom. She didn't know what to do with-- or make of her troubled daughter. And I didn't blame her. I was sick, and felt like a complete disaster of a person. I had lost my appetite for food and life, and didn't care who thought what of me. Then, about a month or so later, I had a miscarriage. My mom couldn't have been more relieved--and deep down, past the heart ache...so was I. 

Weighing in at only a hundred pounds--I looked gauntly. I was half way through my senior year when I decided to move to a new school and come face to face with a major change yet again. What I hadn't realized yet was that change is the only constant thing in life. It paves the way for good to rise out of the bad. Change allows for us to learn from our mistakes and make new choices, as it also shapes our perspective. It was Viktor Frankl who said that, "when we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves….the last of human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." Although I wasn't clear yet on how my choice would pan out, I was just beginning to discover that life is what you make it. A future was sitting right in front of me, and it was inevitable that I was moving forward. I had taken a step, my first step towards creating anew my destiny.


TO READ PART I & PART II SEE BELOW or CLICK ON LINKS.
http://learning-with-leanna.blogspot.com/2013/09/nine-lives-part-one-first-wound.html
http://learning-with-leanna.blogspot.com/2013/10/nine-lives-part-two-readers-digest.html

No comments:

Post a Comment