Cutting Your Wings & Paying Your Dues
October 27th 2006 12:10
Anybody who lives in the world has to in some fashion 'pay their dues' as they move through various levels of status, achievement, or simply being. Life has its' lessons, and they are randomly (it seems) hurled our way. No path will go untouched.
These dues are more often than not something other than financial. 'Cutting your wings' does not have a violent hint to it for no reason. When entering a new job, for instance, their is a learning curve that may be emotionally brutal. Frustration, embarrassment, alienation, and shunning, to name a few possible experiences of the unfortunate and often unsuspecting 'newbie'.
Naive and youthful excitement may soon be quelled by unwelcoming colleagues, new and difficult tasks, and the general ignorance that comes when the ways of the company have not yet been incorporated and internalized. A precarious time, this.
I am reminded of my first job in the Human Services, and how it was a true 'cutting of the wings' training experience. A twenty-three year old entering the jungle of Maximum Security Criminally Insane patients who were being cared for by a collection of staff members that included addicts, 'bug-housers', and equally naive folk such as myself did not bode well for my emerging and fragile psyche.
Murderers, rapists, whack-jobs jibbering varying versions of word salad, and intermittently explosive personality disorders were enough to remind me that one of my father-figures of the past had suggested going into accounting. Numbers, I was told, were harmless yet useful.
Harmless, yet useful. Now there was a grabbing recommendation! My new clients were neither harmless nor useful. They were the dredges and castaways of society, expressing ways of being I'd never seen, smelled, or heard before. Quite fascinating, if not daunting.
A significant part of cutting my wings, it seems, was to become sufficiently jaded so that I, like the bug-housers, would be relatively unscathed by the emotional fires and chaos that surrounded me and my cast of treating characters. All this led to a hyper-vigilance relative to creating boundaries. Quite important when in the crazy soup of the insane.
I think this has served me well, though, and has contributed to my being quite comfortable in pretty much any situation that life, clients, family, or anyone or anything else can throw my way.
HAVE YOU CUT YOUR WINGS & PAID YOUR DUES?
deorre
These dues are more often than not something other than financial. 'Cutting your wings' does not have a violent hint to it for no reason. When entering a new job, for instance, their is a learning curve that may be emotionally brutal. Frustration, embarrassment, alienation, and shunning, to name a few possible experiences of the unfortunate and often unsuspecting 'newbie'.
Naive and youthful excitement may soon be quelled by unwelcoming colleagues, new and difficult tasks, and the general ignorance that comes when the ways of the company have not yet been incorporated and internalized. A precarious time, this.
I am reminded of my first job in the Human Services, and how it was a true 'cutting of the wings' training experience. A twenty-three year old entering the jungle of Maximum Security Criminally Insane patients who were being cared for by a collection of staff members that included addicts, 'bug-housers', and equally naive folk such as myself did not bode well for my emerging and fragile psyche.
Murderers, rapists, whack-jobs jibbering varying versions of word salad, and intermittently explosive personality disorders were enough to remind me that one of my father-figures of the past had suggested going into accounting. Numbers, I was told, were harmless yet useful.
Harmless, yet useful. Now there was a grabbing recommendation! My new clients were neither harmless nor useful. They were the dredges and castaways of society, expressing ways of being I'd never seen, smelled, or heard before. Quite fascinating, if not daunting.
A significant part of cutting my wings, it seems, was to become sufficiently jaded so that I, like the bug-housers, would be relatively unscathed by the emotional fires and chaos that surrounded me and my cast of treating characters. All this led to a hyper-vigilance relative to creating boundaries. Quite important when in the crazy soup of the insane.
I think this has served me well, though, and has contributed to my being quite comfortable in pretty much any situation that life, clients, family, or anyone or anything else can throw my way.
HAVE YOU CUT YOUR WINGS & PAID YOUR DUES?
deorre
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Comment by katyzzz
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I am not sure that I can answer your question, but maybe you will leave some comment about that when you visit my blogs shown here on my logo and accessed by simply clicking on my logo on the names there.
Of course, my blogs do not cover fully what I am all about, just some small aspect.
You certainly seem to have come on a long journey and have reached a certain acceptance. and what a journey that has been, I would certainly not have liked to go down that path. You are to be congratulated
Maybe after reading and/or having a look at my blogs your perceptions will change a little and perhaps bring some inspiration for having fun and enjoying yourself into your life.
Maybe, maybe not, but I would appreciate having your views and I do hope I have been of some small assistance to you.
katyzzz
Comment by Deorre
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Will check out your blogs.
Comment by Tel
Cheers!
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Stress Alive
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