- Work and traction
- I don’t think I’ve appreciated the psychological benefits I have received by carrying financial responsibility for the last quarter century. I have always had constant motivation to get up and be doing something virtually every day.
- Perhaps not working for 6 months was part of the crushing helplessness I felt late in 2020 before I got hired at SKM. (Although I had been ‘working’ at looking for jobs and at doing odd tasks to earn fragments of money.)
- I’ve watched Alex 3 times now begin to blossom after he got a job that provided some structure to his otherwise free time and the freedom of having money of his own that wasn’t dependant on me.
- So far he’s still doing well since his Best Buy job ended but I think he’ll drink back into a funk if he doesn’t get another job within a month or two.
- I’ve watched Mickey thrive momentarily with her first two jobs and now with Deseret Industries it has lasted longer but that has also underscored the fact that she needs more responsibility because of how willing she is to coast. Having the responsibility of a job hasn’t spurred her to do anything with her life.
- I really think that Laura would blossom by having some consistent structure and accountability in her life.
- She has built up psychological defenses against accountability in her work with the family—assisted by years of me trying to protect her from being crushed by the weight of acknowledging how much she was failing.
- She’s far removed from being able to remember what real success and real responsibility feel like.
- She’s lost both confidence and perspective.
Action Items
- Explore the emotional liberty that comes from having adequate resources of time, money, and energy and how that emotional liberty is a resource of its own.
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