Celine Dion and hangovers

Bringing a greater sense of awareness.

We all know the feeling, the morning after the night before.

Minds a little groggy about the previous night's antics.

And then, slowly but surely, we put the pieces together.

I like to call them getting the Celine Dion's.

"It's all coming back, coming back to me now."

It's that awareness that comes to us, usually with the help of something put into the group chat by someone with a little less foggy brain.

With inner work or self-development, we do not have the luxury of a group chat to tell us, and this is something we have to do by ourselves.

“All by myself,” another Dion reference.

Some might decide to "turn the phone off" and hope that ignoring the messages will make it all go away. Act like it never really happened.

Still, unfortunately, when it comes to our reactions or "triggers" in certain situations in our lives, these actions or reactions will keep happening.

Investigating and understanding these triggers help us with greater awareness to reduce them or keep them under better control.

Could it be that feeling of not being good enough stemming from a parent with high expectations growing up?

Or the feeling of constant failure because you may have been the last picked on the sports teams during childhood.

Apprehensive about meeting new friends because of the awful reaction you got from some mean kids when you went to a new school or tried a new hobby.

Generally, these triggers can be more understandable, hating confrontation due to growing up in a home of violence or the fear of talking openly about certain things because it was forbidden to let the outside world know anything that was happening under the roof of your house.

A habit of being jealous of others due to the feeling of not getting everything we asked for growing up or envious of anyone with money in adult life for similar reasons.

Once we understand these triggers or ask ourselves why we keep having the same reactions to specific situations, we can identify areas that need work.

Normalizing honest communication regarding these areas with the people in our lives can only improve our relationships and helps us become better people who don't react as before.

More importantly, we become more aware to avoid the same patterns happening again and again.

We have the answers and have a choice rather than self-sabotaging or blaming someone else.

Just like someone with a nut allergy inspects the menu or asks the waiter or barman does something contain nuts to prevent a reaction.

Wouldn't it be great if these conversations were normal to allow all parties to understand one another more?

To discover these takes work.

It may take time and patience.

It will require a harsh and truthful look at areas in our life we may not want to revisit or admit we were wrong.

But that understanding and knowledge will make for better decision-making in the future.

And improve all relationships as we advance.

We call these A-HA moments in therapy as if a light bulb lights up.

The foggy vision suddenly becomes a little clearer.

And suddenly, it all begins to make sense.

We cannot go back to the past but can always make way for a better future and help us make better choices, just like “that” third round of shots in the bar, which seemed a good idea at the time.

To save getting the Celine Dion's the following morning.

Thanks for reading

Marcus.