Vodka-Juicebox.org http://vodka-juicebox.org Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Efficient Thinking http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=13 http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=13#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:11:47 +0000 Betsy http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=13

“The happiest people I know are people who don’t even think about being happy. They just think about being good neighbours, good people. And then happiness sort of sneaks in the back window while they are busy doing good.” – Harold Kushner

What is family?

Is family an obligation? A support system? A coping mechanism?

I asked myself this question because I was on a self-pitying streak because I turned down an opportunity to go out and do something fun because it would inconvenience my mum. She didn’t ask me to, but I knew it would be crazy hard on her to try and transport me there. OH, YOU POOR BABY.

Yeah, so I was moping about thinking, “This is what life’s going to look like until August. I can’t do fun stuff like other kids, everything I want is secondary.” Then me and my martyr-complex went WILD with images of my Cinderellaesque future. Nooo, Betsy NEVER had any fun between then and when she moved out! Look at how temperate and self-sacrificing she is!

This is where I had to stop myself. Even if that were entirely true, I would not fulfill my role as effectively as if I were doing it because I wanted to. When we do things and think of them as a huge sacrifice and trial, honestly, we will not do them as effectively as if we want to. So instead of continuing this line of thought, I began to try and find a different way to think about it. My heart has to be in this, otherwise I may as well not try.

Some of that may be true, I do need to make what I’m doing secondary to everything that’s going on at the house. Words that I had said to my boyfriend a while ago came to mind when he was going through something, it was to the effect of: “Your presence was one of the best things during my struggles, your support was invaluable. Honestly, I’m just so grateful to have the opportunity to return the favor.”

I hate it when my sage wisdom comes back and slaps me in the face. Stupid boys. >_<

Because that’s really what family’s about. My family has supported me through rough bits, and if the current crises that my family is facing were about me, then I know that they’d do everything they could for me to the best of their ability and sacrifice everything to make sure I got through it. Right now its my turn; and honestly, even now, no one else cares for me more than my family. I think sometimes when home becomes in some ways more stressful than other places, it becomes easy to forget the fact that even though stuff is tough, no one loves me more or would show it as much as my family. I’m more loved here and more…what would the word be? Not quite sure how to put it, but I suppose the closest way of describing it is that they have more invested in me than anyone else.

So what I do for my family, be it staying home to look after the house, keeping the house tidy because it makes both of my parents a little less crazy (Kidding, mummy!), I’m happy to do it. I know that they would do the same for me and the things that this family is working towards is something I’m joyous to be a part of. My family is working towards the idea that the little girl in the other room currently watching Roseanne might someday be able to have a complete and fulfilling life.

I think that’s pretty worth skipping movie night for.

Love,
Betsy

]]> http://vodka-juicebox.org/?feed=rss2&p=13 27 First! http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=5 http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=5#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:29:56 +0000 Betsy http://vodka-juicebox.org/?p=5 Listening to: Starry-Eyed~Ellie Goulding
Currently reading: TEXTBOOKS.
So, before we get into the mania bit, let’s take a brief moment to make a nice introduction in the hopes you might actually believe I’m sweet and sane before I totally ruin that impression. It will be nice to savor for a moment or two before I totally crush your hopes you’ve finally met a person possessing such qualities.
Hi, my name is Betsy. I’m 16 (AND A HALF! I don’t think I’ve felt the need to add that since I was 8, but still. It’s important.), I’m newly graduated, and I work as a tutor. I used to run this blog when I was much younger but then was thoroughly over-whelmed by my own self-absorbency and took it down. So it stayed dormant for a little under 2 years. But some kind nudging from my friend Emmy encouraged me to start writing again. This is a problem. You see, one of my greatest failings is a hugely oversized ego. When us arrogant creatures get asked to start talking about ourselves again, havoc and shameless self-promotion the likes of which Barack Obama has never seen is bound to occur. But hey, look what it did for our President-in-Chief.
But in all honestly, I’ve been feeling motivated to begin this blog anew lately for a fairly large reason. You see, though it may sound like it, I am not, in fact, an only child. I have three older brothers (considerably so, from my father’s previous marriage) and a younger sister. My younger sister is 2 years my junior and for the past year (2 years, really) she has been suffering from adolescent depression and a host of other mental issues.
It’s been scary, depressing, infuriating, humbling and enlightening. I’ve figured out a ton of things and also had to completely abandon some of my other preconceived notions about life in general. It’s completely changed my life, priorities and how I approach every relationship I go into. Each relationship revolves around the idea that interacting with that individual will not upset or inconvenience my sister due to her current social sensitivity (high social anxiety, and anxiety in general). Each priority is secondary to my family. It’s taught me to value family over everything, to work more efficiently with my time, and that optimism is not an optional life skill.
I plan to whore the hell out of this particular blog in the mummy-blogospheres, and the mental illness blogs because I think that one of the most under-emphasized parts of mental illness is the fact that it doesn’t just affect the sufferer. It affects the entire family. But it doesn’t have to be entirely bad. So I plan to try and focus on this.
It won’t be all about Becca (sister) and family, some of it will be completely frivolous and self-absorbed–like all good adolescent blogs should be!–so yeah. There’s this blogger’s “Manifesto” I s’pose you could say. –Insert bow–thank you, and good night.

<3
Betsy

]]> http://vodka-juicebox.org/?feed=rss2&p=5 7