A storm in a tea cup and other addictions

Sonja van Wyk – I’m always over-analysing stuff, and perhaps it is a good thing under the right circumstances but, I suppose, it’s probably more irritating than anything else for those close to me. For example, if I’m at a casual get-together and somebody makes casual chit chat about the weather, I’d consider the weather patterns of the past week, mentally sift through the newspaper articles that I’ve read, and my reply would be an analysis of the expected weather patterns as predicted by some meteorologist. Instead of saying, “Yes, it has unusually been hot” I bring up El Nino and climate warming. A bit of conversation killer.

I’m mentioning this little tidbit while I’m reflecting on how we are sometimes addicted to stuff other than the normal substances, like cigarettes and alcohol. I’m probably addicted to analysing stuff to the point that it becomes almost dysfunctional – in conversations, and in life where it sometimes leads to analysis-paralysis.

And then there are people that are addicted to making a drama out of everything. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, or perhaps it’s simply that sometimes life is boring or unsatisfying – which is why we as humans like movies, tv and  stories so much; we can relieve that boredom and experience that emotional thrill vicariously. But the real-life drama addicts like to create that kind of drama in their own lives. They have a need to blow up everything way out of proportion to get their fix.

Good for them, I say, except like all good dramas it requires other players to join the production. The drama addict will do anything to suck others into this production – skillfully stirring, emotionally manipulating, outright confrontations, sulking… – and there we go. Raise the curtains.

It’s difficult to stay out of it if you’re targeted as being part of the production. Invariably there is some emotional manipulation – you don’t care enough, you don’t love me enough, you think you’re better than me…. Sometimes not joining the drama production is more of an issue than the actual script provided and we just say, ah what the hell, and join in. And so one person’s need for drama creates a storm in a tea cup.

One thing I know for sure is that if and when I drown I wouldn’t want it to be in a tea cup.