Hey Paul. Very much on point and with great clarity discovered and explained! This is exactly my experience and I have gladly left the swinging path between nice guy and bad boy.
I converted to Orthodoxy in 1988 at the age of 38. Ironically my first Divine Liturgy was on the Sunday of the Paralytic Man, and my marriage counselor had told me to focus on that scripture reading. I am going to read the article again and study it. I am recently retired and have found that my group of work friends have moved on to other relationships. I made the mistake of not cultivating other friendships.
I recently started on Substack and made a few posts. I was accused of being an Orthrobro troll. I went into my Boomer "how does this work" mode.
I don't have time for mental gymnastics. When I was in Catholic elementary school in the US, if there was a fistfight the nuns would stand by like a hockey referee waiting for stitches or broken bones before they broke it up. Then we would sit together in the office and talk about it. Today the police would show up and you would be sent to alternative school. The bad thing today is, when there is emotional abuse such as repetitive aggression, humiliation, intimidation, verbal insults, the perpetrators walk free and are empowered to repeat it. I don't have time for that on social media.
Hey Paul. Very much on point and with great clarity discovered and explained! This is exactly my experience and I have gladly left the swinging path between nice guy and bad boy.
This has opened my eyes. I have a long response, but I don't want to turn this into my forum.
Great to hear it has been of value to you. And any details you could share of what it brings up would be useful for me for sure!
I converted to Orthodoxy in 1988 at the age of 38. Ironically my first Divine Liturgy was on the Sunday of the Paralytic Man, and my marriage counselor had told me to focus on that scripture reading. I am going to read the article again and study it. I am recently retired and have found that my group of work friends have moved on to other relationships. I made the mistake of not cultivating other friendships.
I recently started on Substack and made a few posts. I was accused of being an Orthrobro troll. I went into my Boomer "how does this work" mode.
I don't have time for mental gymnastics. When I was in Catholic elementary school in the US, if there was a fistfight the nuns would stand by like a hockey referee waiting for stitches or broken bones before they broke it up. Then we would sit together in the office and talk about it. Today the police would show up and you would be sent to alternative school. The bad thing today is, when there is emotional abuse such as repetitive aggression, humiliation, intimidation, verbal insults, the perpetrators walk free and are empowered to repeat it. I don't have time for that on social media.