Avoiding Drama by Managing My Monkeys



It’s pretty easy for me to recognize and avoid other people’s drama today. I now know when something is not my circus and not my monkeys. But managing and avoiding my OWN circus and my own monkeys is a different story.

I was watching a tv show last night and immediately recognized how the lead character was creating his own drama. The frightening thing was that I saw myself in him TOTALLY! The dramas he created for himself, and inflicted on his friends, were the exact same ones that I get entranced in: relationship issues, make believe health problems, workplace drama, etc. I sat basically watching myself on tv and I was horrified.

The past two weeks my OCD has been overactive and has had me acting out all sorts of health-related dramas. I’ve magnified little things and turned them into gut-churning fears and traumas—all at my own expense. And, even though I’ve kept it all pretty much to myself, after watching tv last night, I realize how much I’ve gushed my little health dramas all over my friends in the past. Luckily, they have been as patient and understanding as the friends of the tv character I encountered last night.

I’m tired of creating my own dramas, and I’m tired of feeling powerless over them when my OCD takes control. I’m in a good space today and I can easily dismiss any codependent, poor me drama that enters my head. I can face a terrifying, intrusive thought today and dismantle it while remaining calm and unnerved. But when I’m in the grip of OCD, it’s almost impossible to recognize the fact that I’m taking some small little non-problem and turning it into a major drama.

So I’m asking my Higher Power to enlighten and strengthen me at all times, even in the throes of OCD, to recognize and minimize the drama building around something that really isn’t a problem at all. No more drama. 

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