Ok here goes; I admit it. I am addicted to soaps... Not all of them, 2 of them in particular General Hospital and the Young & the Restless...
(*Side Note* I wholeheartedly blame my older sister and oldest brother for the planting the seeds of this addiction way back in the day when Shawn Douglas fell down the well on Days of our Lives. They taped it - VHS style- every day and watched it every night in that little nook near the 2nd kitchen... You know what I'm talking about M & M, do not deny it)
Since the invention of the PVR (another self admitted addiction) I haven't had any reason to try and kick this addiction. I mean, why should I? I tape them, I speed watch them, often while exercising, and mostly; I LOVE THEM!
The thing that has got me pondering lately is WHY???
I did some e-search on the subject and discovered that this is a well analyzed topic. There's so much out there on the subject generally that I decided to abandon the general "whys" and just focus on my own personal ones.
Part of what I believe one of my strengths is as a life coach, is that I am very self reflective (my husband might say annoyingly so ;), I am constantly trying to be aware of my behaviors, reactions, philosophies, instincts... in an effort to understand them, improve upon myself, etc...
So here goes on the soap addiction:
1- I don't like change; I've had some enormous ones imposed on me from a very young age and it has left me lusting after stability, consistency, control... (I leave room for spontaneity and adventure, I swear!). Well, as much as a soap opera is ever changing, there's one thing about them I can always count on, day after day (weekday that is) it will be there, to entertain me, to make me laugh, to make me cry, make me want to scream and smash things... Like your favorite movie never ending!
*I do recognize that maybe one day one of these soaps will end much like Another World and Passions... but the writers and producers understand their audience well and I have faith that they will give us ample warning and time to prepare and pre-schedule many therapy sessions*
2- They are emotional roller coasters; I've always joked that my soaps were like my therapy. As noted in #1, they make me laugh, cry and want to scream... I am really great at speaking my mind, however, when it comes to the deep rooted, vulnerability provoking emotions, I am the best "bottle upper" there is, I think the soaps give me a safe place to release pent up emotions... I won't lie, I thoroughly enjoy a good cry now and again!
*Disclaimer: While soaps are a good release of emotion please note that this author neither smashes, nor promotes smashing as emotional release*
3- They are a bit of a kick in the butt/reality check; Now this one may really seem to make no sense, but indulge me for a moment if you will... While we may see like minded stories on programs such as the Jerry Springer Show, Maury or Steve Wilkos (hmm... I have enjoyed these too in the past...) most of what we see in a Soap Opera is NOT what most people experience in their day to day in lives. And on top of that, what we see is more often than not waaaaayyyyyy worse than anything we will ever experience in real life. Therefore we are left with a feeling of happiness and hopefully satisfaction knowing that our lives are definitely better than that! (though theirs may often be prettier ;)
For your viewing pleasure here are a couple of photos of some of my fave GH and Y&R stars to look at... I'm thinking "why" will be self explanatory... :)
Let me know your thoughts, on my thoughts!
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