Thursday, May 22, 2008

What's feelings got to do with it??

"I can't help what I feel" And I answered "Of course you can't, but you CAN control HOW you convey those feeling."

That’s a quote that I picked up from a message board that I’m a member of. As I read it I begin to question a lot of the things that I say and feel. I’ve always known that I couldn’t control how I felt per'se, but until recently I thought that I could control the expression of those feelings. Have I been telling myself a lie? Do I have control, in some form, over what I feel? If so, then I’m in for a rude awakening and I need to do better. But if that hypothesis is incorrect and I have NO control over what and how I feel then I think that life really sux!!!! We spend a lot of time criticizing people for their decisions, if not criticizing then at least forming our own opinions about what they should and shouldn't do. I wonder how easy our criticisms would come if people knew our junk. If then knew how foul we really were.

Moving on, what keeps us from living life as we see fit. I know several people who suffer from regret or deferred/denied dreams. I spent years blaming my lack of self expression on God and the church. How if I didn't know God or someone's version of him, then I would be free. Then living the LIFE would be so much easier and less messy. I am feeling literally torn in half and I don’t know which way to go. On one hand I’m making life miserable for my wife. She wants and deserves intimacy which I’m unable and more importantly unwilling to give. I’m just not feeling very sexual right now, hetero or homo! She doesn’t understand that and is measuring herself against something that she has no clue about. It’s killing her and in turn it’s killing me.

But on the other hand in pleasing her I’ll be making myself miserable, or so I think. I’m afraid to make a move, for fear that it’s the wrong move and I’ll end up worse off than I am now. Cowardly is the one word that comes to mind when I think of me right now. I want to be accepted in both worlds. I’m so selfish. I want the wife to help me pass as the man in some societal circles. I want to be what I hear God calling me to be but at the same time I want to creep and crawl to the other side. I long to have my physical and emotional appetites satisfied by something that is taboo and not be burdened with shame. But in scratching one itch the other will be ignored. Which can I live with and without?

Sadly, it is the same story, just a different day. I need a new issue to deal with; I’m so tired of the ones that seem to run me now.

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So in an attempt to ease or run away from my thoughts, I decide to have drinks/dinner with a friend. More drinks than dinner were had and I ruined, or at the very least, changed the face of several dear relationships.


I have apologized to all involved, but apologies are like excuses and excuses are like assholes, we all got em. They all accepted and we say we're all moving on, but how do you forget propositioning someone? Turning friendship into a sexual business deal.... Mistake on top of mistake seems to be the order of the day where I'm concerned.

If I could turn back the hands of time....

I promise that I won't spend the next several days/weeks/months/years of my life beating this same dead horse. I will experience happiness. I declare it and I will die seeing it come into fruition.

1 comment:

JACK said...

Feelings are complex and our life depends on how we handle them. Truly, we cannot control how we feel - but we can control how we react. What you feel is a function of who you are as a person. You and I could sit down and watch the same movie - it might make me cry and make you laugh - it's the same movie. But our emotions, our feelings, are different. Because I am me. And you are you.

How do I control my reaction? Actually, I'll be emotional - but you probably won't see me cry! lol. That's about what I can control.

Christian guilt kept my cloak of heterosexuality on for a very long time - I can totally empathize with you. Chrisitanity is the reason I have an ex-wife ... the reason I have two children ... the reason I had to go through a divorce. And I had to learn that Christianity is about my heart and it's relationship with Christ, not about a Church and the things "they" say. The former is true religion - the latter pure religiosity.

This post is many months old - are you still married? I wish our paths had crossed back then ... but I really hope you're in a better place.