I was just in the throes of a dramatic mood swing induced by my daughter. The swings come and go pretty much at the drop of a hat. They come without warning and often times make little to no sense. They never seem to truly be steeped in any form of reality, yet they have the power to possibly alter your whole darn day (though this is rare).
The reason I wrote this post was what happened about 5 minutes ago. This was a very mild case, to be sure, but it just made me think.
Mood swing #1 – the “that’s so cute, I love her” swing. Natalie calls for mom to tell her something, realizes she’s on the phone, than sweetly and meekly whispers…”ok, mom, I’ll just tell you later then.” Sweet.
Mood swing #2 – Natalie decided that she no longer knew how to place a straw in a Capri Sun and elected to spill much of it’s contents on her, the couch, a blanket, and the carpet. I was actually pretty calm, but this mildly exacerbated “Are you freaking kidding me?” mood came right out, within 1 minute of mood #1. It’s like a tsunami of change and emotion, and neither are forewarned.
There are really severe cases as well, such as the “Thank God for this baby, I just her/him so much, it’s crazy” or the “I want to stab my eyes out with a cheese grater” – all fairly common and all quite valid, yet also quite severe. These can also come and go quickly given the current circumstance.
How does one deal with this? Is it just part of life? Is there really nothing to do? At the moment, I’m in that camp. I feel like I have been much better at dulling the angry swings and trying to enjoy the happy ones. There are even times where I’ve mad potentially irate mood swings into funny and happy ones (tantrums, whining, messes, etc.). I doubt it’s male menopause…Can I Get A Witness?
I’m trying, yet I suspect, it’s never something that can be mastered. All we can do is try to enjoy the time, good and bad. Time flies, and you don’t get a second time around.
