A few days after my post about “Marinating”, I was reading a book (which, I’ll be straight up with you: It was a total fluff-read. It was NOT “War and Peace”), and stumbled across the below passage and it stuck with me because it wasn’t so far from the way I had been feeling, and that maybe an outstretched hand is enough sometimes:
We spent the rest of the session talking about my theory that in every
relationship – friendship, romantic, whatever – there is an alpha and a beta.
Namely, one strong person, the rock, so to speak, and one weaker link, the one
who does the leaving. By weaker link, I don’t mean to imply that they’re a less
critical component: In fact, if you put two strong types together, they often
combust, sort of like two opposing elements that explode in chemistry
class.
I wasn’t sure why my alpha dog theory had been weighing on me as of
late, until Janice suggested that other than you, Diary, it would be nice for me
to find someone on whom to lean. You know, so I didn’t have to bear all my
burdens alone. I told her that I liked living as a solitary being, and that
really, at the end of the day, i was the only person I trusted enough to rely
on. (No offense. I do find you to be a fantastic listener.) She nodded and said
she understood, so she suggested taking baby steps, that I shouldn’t be afraid
to also look for small gifts, for people who outstretched their hands, even if
they weren’t offering a full shoulder.
I love it when things like that happen.
Still sending hugs…
~L