No more pillow blogging

Egad. Down on the southern tip of Africa, dipping your toes into the Atlantic Ocean is best left for the hottest days, or a well-prepared wetsuit clad surfer, or a masochist. Today I am taking the plunge. Not into our icy waters, but into that great scary sea called the blog. I am putting my words out there and we will see where they are washed up.

In truth, there is no reason to be scared. I have composed hundreds of blogs. Some have been really funny, some insightful, some just a rant. Unfortunately they have all been in my head, conjured up in the dead of night. When day finally dawns, they have all but evaporated, leaving behind a few pithy comments which linger ’til lunchtime - and then are gone. Entirely.

So, no more more pillow blogging. I must say, a hundred or so words in, and I feel better already. Certainly cheaper than my shrink who I am currently avoiding to allow our bank account to accommodate my husband’s own overpriced therapist.

I have always said thought that at some time in your life, everyone should see a shrink, and I still believe that. You get to pay someone to listen to your rants and wipe your tears, or at least hand you a box of tissues for you to wipe your own tears as those dratted professional boundaries seem to preclude physical contact between client and doctor. Sometimes you just need a damned hug.

My parents generation doesn’t seem to feel quite the same way about therapy as I do. My father - the surgeon - only rates one shrink and only because the guy got a first for surgery at medical school. When speaking of shrinkage, my father always tells the same true story: he sent a patient to see this shrink who called him back the next day with a diagnosis. “It’s FITH disease, and there’s no known cure,” he told my Dad. “What that?” the cutting king asked. “FITH stands for f*cked in the head.” Followed by much roaring of laughter.

But our generation does seem to have embraced the notion of therapy more wholeheartedly, and with less judgment. Everyone I know has been to see one at some time in the last 15 years. And I think the reason blogging has become ubiquitous is because blogging is the new therapy. This is because it has more upside than therapy; it costs nothing, you’re talking to more than one (hopefully) person, and maybe if you ask for it, someone can send you a cyber hug.

So expect some introspection on this blog, but more probably some comments, rants, and laughs at my expense about my world on the southern tip of Africa. And a very nice place it is to be indeed.