This week's blog is about drama addiction which leads to all sorts of problems and issues for the person with the drama addiction and for all those involved. What is it and how can you avoid it?
A little bit of drama through the media is great. It meets our need for variety and excitement. The problem occurs when we want to create unnecessary drama for the sake of it or we become drawn into someone else's unnecessary drama. This sort of drama is unresourceful and can lead to all sorts of negative issues.
There are weekly television shows and magazines that promote and romanticize drama. These magazines follow the lives of famous people and report on their mishaps, misfortunes and misery as well as reporting on their successes. If you flick through one of these magazines you will find more articles on drama than on success. Television adverts about soap operas hook people into the next week of viewing with snippets of drama to come. Will that character survive the car crash/fire/broken heart?
One of the workshops that I run for organisations is about recognising and stopping drama between staff members at work. People like to meet their need for variety by creating situations at work such as bitching about other staff members, spreading gossip and trying to form groups that separate one set of staff from another. It is derisive and causes all sorts of problems, not to mention poor morale and creates an unpleasant workplace.
The way to avoid this sort of drama is to meet your need for variety in positive ways. Here are just 3 ways that you can meet your need for variety resourcefully:
1. If you enjoy watching or reading about drama choose books, television programs and films that portray either a real story, or about people overcoming adversity. Personally I really enjoyed the 'ANZAC Girls' last year, which was about the real story of 5 nurses during WWI. The events were taken from the diaries of the nurses and portrayed brilliantly by a wonderful group of actors.
2. Get out of your comfort zone every week. It could be something as simple as shopping somewhere different, like the supermarket in a different suburb or trying somewhere new for coffee. It could be as dramatic as trying an new sport like sailing, golf or lawn bowls. Have a go at Toastmasters because getting up to talk in front of a group of strangers is going to put you a long way outside your comfort zone.
3. Meet new people. This might be by joining something as suggested above or it could be through a 'Meetup' group that shares similar interests, or a club of some kind. Finding people with similar interests to you helps you make connections. You might not want to meet them outside of the club but enjoy talking about your shared interest at the club meetings. It is a great way to increase your skills in a hobby in addition to meeting new people and getting outside your comfort zone. You could also volunteer. There are a variety of organisations, charities and events that require volunteers.
What action will you take this week to increase the ways you are meeting your need for variety?
Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment