Keeping Score

Why must everything in our lives revolve around keeping score. Lately this has really been bugging me and it has finally reached a breaking point. So, since you read the blog you just have to deal with the post. And if you think that I am talking about you some where in it, I probably am which means you need to reconsider your actions. If you don't think I am talking about you then I probably am not. The biggest theme of this post is GET OVER IT!!

Alright, so back to the issue at hand. Why must we continually keep score in our lives? I mean we all feel the HUGE need to make sure everything is "fair," however, when life really is fair we then spend the rest of our lives trying to do better than everyone else. I think it all starts when we are kids. I can vividly remember my brother and I keeping score religiously about who got to sit in the front seat when ever we would go places. It got so bad that my mom had to implement a rule that one of us would get the front going to a place and the other would get the front going back. Heaven forbid we make two stops and were in the car 3 times. After a while we started calculating time we spent in the car. And if one of your front seat trips was shorter than the other persons then you got the front again next time we left. It even went so far as my brother stating the argument that I was born first so I had 6 more years on him that he should be able to catch up.

Then when we are in school we feel the need to be better than everyone else in school. We compete in sports, academics, who gets their licence first, who graduates first, and who gets the highest grade point average.

Then we grow up and get over it all. NOT!!! Nope then you get to the working world. There you compete with all the people around you, do they get the same number of vacation days, are they being paid the same as you, does your boss give them extra privileges that you don't get?? I mean today, even after I was all worked up about this topic to begin with, I was looking at the schedule and realized that this week I have 2 evals, and 6 reports due, next week I have 3 evals and 7 reports due and other therapist don't. Really that's my deal? I know things will work out, they always do, but it is stressful to look at the schedule and think that I will have no time to write up the reports that need to get done. I also need to not get annoyed at my coworkers when they have just as much work to do, just different kinds of work.

Now when I look back getting mad at my brother over the stupid front seat of the car was ridiculous and I am past that now. So for all you people out there who have difficulty with their family not treating everyone identically and extending all privileges to everyone, here is a social story for you. When you feel a situation that you are angry about please refer back to the social story.

My name is ______.

I have a large and wonderful family.Sometimes, my parents do things special with just me.We have dinner, get special presents, and they spend special one-on-one time with my children.

Sometimes, my parents do things special with my siblings and not me.They have dinner without me, they get special presents when I don't, and they spend special time with my nieces and nephews and not my children.

This is okay. My parents love me and my siblings equally but they show it in different ways.

I need to get over being obsessed with equality and be happy when my siblings get special treats.

Now this has been posted on the world wide web. I know you will all find it and I am sure half of you will be angry at it. Well get over it, and let's all move on. However, this stands as a warning. This was my discrete way of tell you all about it. Next time you complain out loud, I will not be so discrete and nice about it.