I’m not sure when it hits you.
Maybe it happens at different times for different people.
Yeah. That’s probably the case.
Maybe for some it never happens.
For me it happened during the pandemic.
Specifically during lockdown.
We had passed the “haha, let’s eat Doritos and watch Netflix all day” portion of the lockdown and had hurtled into the “we’re never getting out of here, are we?” portion.
Emotions were raw.
Cabin fever was setting in.
Feelings were piling up.
Being the largest, I’m pretty sure our kids had decided to kill me first.
For sport or food.
That was when it hit me.
In times of great stress or high emotion, communication is the key to survival.
Letting those around you know how you feel allows them to help or, at the very least, provides a way for you to uncork some emotions that will do their best to kill you if you don’t get them out.
However for communication to have maximum effect there can be no guardrails.
There can be no rules.
There can be no shackles of propriety and pleasantry.
Just let ‘er rip.
Get it out.
Often forgotten is that communication requires transmission and reception.
So it is also vital that the receiving end focus on the message and not the words the message came wrapped in.
The pandemic was a stressful time for us. As it was for most of us.
For lots of reasons.
So we let the f-bombs fly.
We cussed, as Americans say, and cursed our way through it.
Each swear word like a machete cutting through a jungle of suffocating emotion.
To be clear, I don’t celebrate being verbally crass for the sake of being verbally crass.
As a grade school teacher once said, people who swear a lot need to expand their vocabulary.
Agreed.
It’s important to learn as many words as you can to help you be as clear as possible in whatever you wish to convey.
However, if the choice is between freely communicating how you feel and avoiding certain words…
Colour the air blue.
The clock is ticking.
Don’t waste time holding and waiting for the ‘right’ words.
Use any words you’ve got and get back to living.
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Please go buy my book: Stupidpocalypse.com
My husband is going to love this one. He claims that cussing has to have a certain rhythm and I don’t have it since what I “hear” when I try, is my mom’s voice “Take the dictionary out, dear, I’m sure you’ll find a more interesting way of expressing yourself.” I do recall the time when the admonition “Ladies present” would halt the tongue of a guy on the edge of some profane utterance. Self control is no longer seen a valuable mode of behaviour as we tend to let it all hang out regardless of who may be listening. I am very bored with the F bomb. Time to get over the pandemic effects !
The whole problem with swearing is that it is so pervasive in every day speech that it has lost its impact. You really have to notch the tantrum up a bit before they get the message and that way lies either very selectively precise speech or physical violence . Btw love the pink socks pink shirt vibe.