SSP

I’ve spent the day painting a room in the basement. I’ve been trying to get this room painted for over a month, but I needed someone to finish their part before I could do the rest of it. I’m not naming any names, but suffice it to say that I have a large difficulty doing the part I asked them to do and really needed the help.

After patiently asking for them to do their thing, I finally hit SSP. Most people know what this means if you know me, but for you newbies it is my sh*t saturation point. It’s the point where my patience ends and I decide you are no longer needed. I will do what I need to even if it lands me in the hospital trying to do it, or the point where I decide I’ll just pay someone else to do it, or the point where a child of mine has pushed past the limit and find themselves on the wrong side of Mom. It’s just that point you get to when you have had enough. It takes awhile for me to reach, but it’s not a pretty sight.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if you can imagine a mercury based thermometer that has had heat applied to the base, you’ll see the mercury rising. If you remove the heat for a short time, the mercury begins to fall, but not very quickly and if you reapply the heat, you reach the top fairly fast again. That’s how my SSP works. And since it can be combined with a wicked temper and a look that could level a small village, I don’t like to even come close to the boiling point.

I’ve taken many steps to mitigate the possibilities of ever reaching the SSP, but sometimes it’s just not enough, and usually the people or situation that has pushed me to that point are quite valid. This doesn’t occur just because I’m a little peeved about something, or slightly annoyed or even kind of angry. This is a slow building event where my tolerance is tested over and over again and very frequently has involved many warnings and discussions and compromises and long periods of patience.

I hate reaching SSP, but sometimes it seems as though nothing changes until I do. Like I’m not taken seriously until I pop! For those of you who think that I should openly discuss what is bothering me with the person pushing the limits, let me assure you that I do. For those of you who may be quick to deny this, just sit and think for a minute before you respond. I’ll give you credit if you can think of a time that we didn’t talk about an issue, over and over again, before I finally had had enough.

Ah well, I’m not perfect either.