IMPAIRED JUDGMENT WITH STRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Do you have impaired judgment?

If you are a highly judgmental person, are you a good judge?

Either way there’s a prize waiting for both: stress induced health problems.

No one’s got time that.

As an impaired judgment stress survivor, I try not to judge as often as I used to. 

How do I know I have impaired judgment? I’m a Cowboys fan, an Oregon Duck fan, my wife is the most wonderful person in the world, and my kids are above average.

The impaired part goes with the Cowboys and Ducks, the wife and kids are solid.

Backing off being so judgmental has made me a better listener. Just ask and I’ll tell you all about it.

Actually, don’t ask, I’ll still tell you. Try not to judge.

I’ve grown up with rivalries. An older brother, a younger brother, a younger sister, and they all thought they’re better than me. That’s how rivalries work until you find out that they are indeed better.

I’ll be honest, it’s been a relieve. It’s better to accept reality than fight it to my dying breath.

Sounds like hyperbole? It’s not, just check into a local cardio and pulmonary rehab gym for witnesses.

People in there are still trying to prove something, which I suspect is part of recovering from cardiac events.

Are they judgmental? One of them said he doesn’t believe what his doctor is telling him. After thirty one days in ICU. Now he’s doing his own research.

I believe trained medical people make judgments based on education, experience, and clinical outcomes, all three of which most of us don’t possess.

They’ve been around and seen things, the sort of things that are helpful to the rest of us. If we choose to listen, which is quite a leap of faith.

Judgement Stress Hits Home

People with impaired judgment, not drunk, high, wasted and puking impaired, but the folks who can’t help sharing their misguided options on topics they just heard about, are the nervous ones in the room. (The rest are passed out.)

Climate change to them is a celebration of better weather. Global warming? Same thing.

Ask them about the 2020 presidential election. Who won again? Follow up with the Jan. 6 tour groups in the capitol. Was it really a tour?

If that’s not enough, think how someone of sound mind and body can throw themselves into service for the Big Lie of a not-stolen election. Think about it, but don’t ask. They get stressed when asked to explain things.

It’s getting worse when their savior, their hero, the man of their dreams, gets closer to falling into the shit wagon he’s been pulling. If he goes, they go.

The big problem is they know better than to dive face first into a shit wagon of lies, hustles, and stupidity. But they still do it.

Maybe you’re thinking, ‘If impaired judgment is stressful, and stress is a killer, then why isn’t the Fox Network littered with bodies by now?’

Death by stress would be more believable if Alex Jones dropped dead after crawling under his rock. He’s got the right profile: morbidly obese, purple face, screaming accusations, and now an accountability lawsuit.

The impaired judgment clock is ticking on this one, as well as the men and women determined to force women into decisions against their will. Not to forget the law makers who trade school shootings for campaign contributions.

What would you call the swath of people unwilling to get vaccinated against covid along with the booster, while their family members are hooked up sick in a hospital?

Is it an expression of freedom for these liberty loving citizens, or a statement of stupid showing ignorance in public?

“I’d have to have impaired judgment to let some quack remedy for a hoax illness past the sacred borders of my own skin created by God. My body, my choice, but let’s deny legal abortion.”

I See Impaired Judgment All Around Here

I grew up in the ‘other’ town, North Bend, not Coos Bay.

Later, my big city apartment was in the other town, Brooklyn, not Manhattan.

I moved west to the other town, Portland, not Seattle.

Even the state of Oregon is the other place instead of Washington and California.

On one hand it’s never bothered me; on the other maybe I don’t know how much anything bothers me.

Do I have impaired judgment? I’m a ‘live and let live’ guy; a ‘do your own thing’ guy as long as your thing doesn’t slop over onto my thing.

Who is anyone to tell someone what to do? That would be a negative judgment for a Golden Rule guy, but it’s hard to ignore the slop flying around.

Is the best move the ‘Turtle Solution’ of just pulling your head into your shell and laying low?

No, it’s not.

Maybe it’s the ‘Giraffe Approach’ of staying above the fray?

There is no high high enough, or shell strong enough, to avoid judgment stress. Sooner than later you get your legs chopped and your shell crushed.

It’s better, and healthier, to try and understand things than to pass judgment. Open your mouth and letting things fly sets the bar, the standard. And what if you don’t live up to it? Pressure.

No one needs more pressure, but how to avoid being so judgmental? Start small to ease into things, like your relationship.

The one that got away haunts so many happily married couples. They are happy, but . . .

And you never hear about it, except sometimes things slip.

Instead of a ghost haunting around in the skeleton frame of a burned out Chevrolet, stand up and declare yourself ready to the one you love.

Ready to commit to someone you care about, to someone you love, to someone willing to take a chance with you.

2: Without Judgment

A relationship might be too close to home, especially if you’re not married with no plans to ever get married.

Who’s left? Mom and Dad, who may be the reason you’re not getting married and not planning on it. They are who I would have blamed if I never married, never had kids, never found a grandkid on my shoulder.

If you don’t have a husband or wife to work on judgment with, are parents the next best thing?

Not when the parents are rally attending, red hat wearing, gun toting, anti-mask and vaccine advocates in the community.

And you’re not.

Those parents judge their kids as mind-controlled robots of the liberal left, sheeple, and threaten to shoot them if they turn daddy in after his vacation trip to Washington D.C. on Jan.6.

They are pro-life, God-fearing, disciples of a huckster who sold them a bill of goods from his television show, pumped it up at his campaign rallies, and incited violent behavior with lies and fabrications after losing only his second-ever election.

The man knew what being a loser felt like early in his soft life, then exploded the feeling to a large group who lived the hard life.

One enjoys golden dreams and grabbing women looking for a career boost, the other commits to wife and kids and community like a decent American. Problems arose when the golden boy chided the others for not getting their fair share while he worked the system to get more than his fair share.

“You don’t pay taxes.”

“That’s because I’m smart.”

He tells his audience that he’s been cheated out of an even bigger share he saw for himself, but couldn’t quite reach. His audience responds by agreeing he needs a bigger share and sends him their money.

Does this sound like impaired judgment? Could it be something else?

Let’s stress on this together.