On Being Alive and Kicking: Everybody Has Been "Shot!"

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It has been an interesting experience to re-watch the popular 1990s TV show Northern Exposure.

One of the things I really found myself noticing on this second watching is the way pretty much all of us have some kind of quirks or idiosyncrasy's or complexes or anxieties and in most cases they remain unaddressed, as we make our way through life.

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Naturally, not every little quirk and weirdness in our personality needs to be micro analyzed and we are probably best served by sticking to the major points and answering the broader question of whether or not whatever quirks we do have materially interfere with our ability to feel good about ourselves and our place in life.

In a sense, we need to establish a baseline.

In my own case, I have long recognized that I'm an introvert and thus prefer to spend a lot of time by myself. I also recognize that I'm a highly sensitive person, and so on the occasions where I do choose to spend time with other people it is often an overwhelming experience. That's simply part of my nature or the way I'm wired. These particular attributes, stand apart from whether or not society thinks I should or should not be more or less of one particular thing or another.

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However, at that point we get to take a look at whether our baseline is lived from an emotionally healthy place or from a place where we feel like we're always suffering. In other words, are we at peace with ourselves and our quirks and feeling good about living within our skin?

As I look back on my formative years, I can today recognize that I took some unhealthy things with me from my childhood, and it took me several decades to shed them.

Regardless of what my preferences might be, I had pretty poor relationships with both men and women until I was well into my 30's. With most men I always had a sense of revulsion and with most women I had a sense of inferiority and inadequacy.

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My perception of men (at around the time I moved away from home) was that they were these rude and crude and brutish creatures who are eternally stuck in the mindset of the 8 year old schoolyard bully; their natures very violent and they problem solved by force, rather than with their hearts and minds.

My perception of women (at the same time) was that they might be soft and sweet and delightful, but they always used those particular tools to manipulate their way to getting what they wanted. The "role" of a man was mostly to be "a wallet with legs." There was a certain dishonesty about it.

As you can probably tell from those, my parents sent me out into the world with some really "healthy" (not!) impressions about the human species.

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One of the interesting side effects of looking at our "bags of goods" is that we tend to become a little myopic and forget that other people are looking at us through their particular bags of goods. In other words, others typically see a completely different person from the one our self-perception constructs.

The "realness" of the fictional characters of "Northern Exposure" serves as a poignant reminder that we have all been damaged by life, in one way or another. Whether we are prone to aggressiveness, passiveness, anger, fear, or any number of other characteristics... odds are that if those characteristics are giving us trouble, they are something learned during our upbringing...

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? Do you believe we ALL have some kind of "baggage?" Or are some people left unscathed? Does it seem like an "unprocessed past" can come in and make our lives difficult? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 20220118 23:20 PST

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That series is a popular item in our library DVD collection.

We all definitely have baggage of one sort or another. Anyone who denies this is delusional, IMHO. People are imperfect. No one processes trauma well. Our families are all broken in one way or another. The question is whether, and how, we address it.

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