Coping Mechanisms

SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2011 9:12 PM, EDT

Coping Mechanisms

So we all cope in different ways...I have always been an over-sharer - you know, someone who isn't afraid to divulge every last detail, occasionally crossing the boundaries of appropriate conversation (some might call this lacking a filter, but I think that is something else entirely). I guess in some ways it helps me find a way to connect to other people on a personal level. If you can foster a connection with someone even in the most obscure or minute way, you can work with them, befriend them, manage them, or even tolerate them more effectively...it's a twisted kind of empathy.

Over-sharing has its faults...it often reveals one's weaknesses, creating a kind of pure vulnerability. That can also be seen as a strength, albeit an unintended one.  I am generally the first to inform someone of my flaws...something they might not see right off th bat if I hadn't pointed it out...and what happens when someone points out a flaw? It's human nature to recognize it when you see it. So here I am, pointing out my over-sharedness. If you didn't already know it, you're bound to recognize it now.

I also think I am funny. No really, I think I am pretty funny. I am going to be one of those people who always waits for the audience response because I think I am just that funny. Trouble is, that's also my coping mechanism...inappropriate humor. I call it inappropriate because it makes others feel uncomfortable, like I'm not taking the situation seriously. It's really not that...it's just that life in and of itself is generally funny, so why shouldn't I find the funny in it if that makes me feel better?

Remember that scene in Steel Magnolias before Malin gives Shelby a kidney and the family is playing "Go Fish?" Someone says, "Give me all your...internal organs!" And I totally get that humor.

Like suddenly my nickname from the 10th grade (Tit-less Tina Tatum) makes me giggle. And the fact that Bess and Gretchen (the twins, named by my first boyfriend in high school) are likely going to be taking a permanent vacation kind of cracks me up.  Come to think of it, that same boyfriend won Bess (my left breast, and as of right now the healthy one) in a bet once...I think that Nathan should wrap up Bess, return her to that old boyfriend with a thank you note that says "Thanks for the rental...but I've traded her in for a younger model!" 

Pretty much anyone who knows me (thanks to over-sharing) knows that I literally prayed for these boobies. No really, when I was "Tit-less Tina Tatum," I used to pray that God would give me big boobies...specifically two handfuls. Who knew I would have such big hands!? And now here I am, praying for God to take them away. God, please, just take them away...