Juicy secrets, high emotions, lots of energy, and time-consuming antics are the basic components of drama. It’s anything but boring, and the digital world knows it. Marketers use drama to make millions and billions of dollars.
But in real life, drama wears you down physically, emotionally, and mentally. It strains relationships, causes tasks to take longer, and adds layers of frustration.
It’s easy to see who or what is causing the drama in our lives. However, have you ever noticed that it’s never you?
A Simple Idea
If there’s a lot of drama in your life, the odds are high that you’re playing a role in it.
You may feel that I shouldn’t make that type of statement without knowing you and your situation. You’re right that I don’t know the precise details, but the drama program is one that almost everyone runs until becoming aware of it. So, the odds are high that you’re running it, too.
A drama program isn’t good or bad. Programs are just programs. If you don’t like the results a particular program is giving you, you can always rewrite or delete it.
Identifying Drama in Your Life
If you’re tired of experiencing drama and can’t see the program in yourself, here are some things that can help you identify it:
- The thought, “Wait until I tell <someone> about <something that is going to cause a burst of emotion>!” crosses your mind and revs up excitement — even if you know it’s almost morbid excitement.
- “Do you know what my boss <or anyone else> said to me?” is asked with a tone of, “Can you believe that?” or “How dare they say that after all I’ve done!”
- You watch drama-filled shows and real-life events, and then want to talk about them extensively. Drama at the office or in your social circle excites you and pulls you in.
- You’re bored if something major isn’t happening in your life, and you like the stimulation drama causes.
- You feel like a victim, or you’d like to be rescued from your current life.
- You grew up in a home filled with drama, and now you’re not sure what to do with yourself if drama isn’t around you. It’s so familiar that it’s comforting, at least until it wreaks so much havoc that you feel overwhelmed.
- Your relationships are filled with more ups and downs than a wild rollercoaster ride.
There are other ways that drama expresses, but if drama is a program you run, you’ll have checked off more than one item from the above list.
We’ll talk more about what to do to stop the drama program in a future blog. If you’d like to jump straight to possible solutions now, you can read about them in my book, Same Shit Different Day.
If you prefer in-person experiences over reading, you might be interested in one of these services: Experience Mindful Change
Stay tuned to learn about the two main types of drama programs and get tips for freeing yourself from them.