Merriam-Webster definition: “a state, situation or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces” and a drama queen is said to be “a person given to often excessively emotional performances or reactions”. This resonates with me. I see drama everywhere because it’s what I know AND I realize that the world we live in offers us the best opportunity to indulge in this addiction. Once we are hooked, it’s hard to resist.
I grew up surrounded by the outstanding dramatic performances in a daily life category of both of my parents (my mother won hands down). All my siblings and most of our children have the drama gene growing healthy. It has enabled us to take on many things in our lives and I’m very proud of what we have individually and collectively accomplished.
What is also true for me is that drama became a debilitating crutch and recently I was confronted by explosive dramas all around me. I felt thrust in the midst of other people’s dramas and was seduced by the rush of excitement. That is, until my inner voice asked what on earth I was doing. I could hardly believe the words and emotions spilling out of me as I engaged in perpetuating the anxiety, the anger, the frustration. There was a time when I would not have stopped myself. I would have carried on way too long. This time, I caught myself in the middle of the dance.
I wondered why so many people are so addicted to drama. I believe it stems from two sources. One is the obvious availability of drama. 24 hour news channels give us “up to the second” breaking news and often in the most sensationalized manner. It’s hard not to be mesmerized by the chanting and high energy of events unfolding around the world. We have alerts on our cell phones so we don’t miss anything and the moment something considered big happens, we are fed relentlessly with details and sometimes only slightly relevant material. Keeping us on the edge just like a soap opera means we get lulled into thinking we “need to know”.
This translates into our everyday lives when we sense that if things are calm, they are boring. We need to stir things up.
But why are we attracted to drama in the first place. I strongly hold that so many people are without a deep spiritual grounding that they have an emptiness they are trying to fill. Their lives feel “okay” AND they have an unsatisfied longing to connect, sometimes without knowing who or what they want to connect with. With the dissipation of organized religion it is harder for people to find a centre of gravity among the many spiritual opportunities that exist. There was a time when a few well recognized institutions held the promise of internal peace. Not any more. We are in an age of curiousity and I believe confusion. What is really true?
And so, drama makes us feel alive, on the brink of something. It gets our adrenaline flowing and before we know it we are talking too much and listening less; we are eating too much and beating ourselves up more; we are driving faster, working longer, drinking more, starting fights, complaining, running away, getting sick and making gigantic mountains out of the smallest molehills. Simply put, we are over emotionalizing our world in a desperate attempt to feel something good.
Trust me. It’s not out there and definitely not in the shocking stories on the news, the prolonged gossip and analyzing of people or relationships, the self-abuse tactics so many of us employ in an effort to numb ourselves … from we don’t know what!
There is a way out and it’s not dramatic. It’s the simple art of meditation that reconnects us with our inner wisdom and the divine energy that is within and around us. I’ve heard people say they can’t meditate. I don’t buy it. Anyone can meditate. You have to want that kind of inner peace bad enough to resist the sweet seduction of drama. I know. I work on it every day and it’s no big deal.
