Do As I Say, Not As I Do

I know I have written about this before, but I struggle with other people's bad behavior. I think that most bad behavior stems from control issues. I try to be cognizant of my actions around children especially. I don't understand how a parent can have numerous bad habits or addictions and not see how that may affect their children sometimes both physically and mentally.

I grew up in a household of parental mind games and bad habits. I know for a fact it had an influence me. That is why I think I may write behaviors often because I am hypersensitive to certain behaviors. Both my parents had good qualities like the love of creativity, trying different things in life, lapidary, boating, and rockhounding, but also the shadow side. It was not always peaches and cream growing up. Infidelity, divorce, passive-aggressive mind games also were in the picture. And the "wonderful" Catholic guilt mentality. I have to constantly be cognizant of the passive-aggressive and guilt stuff myself. As I get older, I am even more conscious of it and I work to not do those bad habits myself. So, that is why it tends to come up as a topic sometimes. I think writing about it gets it out there where it is not hiding from reality.

Reality is that yes, bad habits and behaviors are the part of everyone's upbringing, but we have to look at what is the lesson. I learned the behaviors I did not want to follow in my adult life. And, I find myself pondering why people fall into certain habits. Especially those that are hurtful to others or counter-productive in life. To me, that is one of the mysteries of behaviors in the human race.