Walk Away from a Broken Machine

"She had gone to the snack area to quench her thirst. She properly inserted her dollar bill and made a selection. The soda machine rattled, but nothing came out. So, she inserted more and more money. She hit the "coin return" button but no money was returned. Then, she started to scream at the machine. In a fit of frustration, she shook and hit the machine. No matter how much time, energy and money she invested, the soda would not come out. The machine was clearly broken. She had to choose whether to continue to fight all day with the soda machine or accept her loss and walk away toward more fulfilling activities in her life. She could continue to invest time, energy, and more money in this machine, or she could choose to cut her losses and walk away. She chose to walk away and give up the battle against the broken machine."

This is a huge metaphor for something, I, and possibly many of you are dealing with. I'm able to connect this fiasco to my problem. It's not her fault the machine was broken. She did everything possible for it to work. And she deserved the soda, but  fixing  this machine was out of her control. Likewise my family is broken. I deserve, and as do you, a supportive family. Theres nothing I can do to change my family. They are the way they are. Just adding more money wouldnt make the soda machine work, dropping pounds wont make my family more supportive or love me more. I can not control any of this. The only thing i can control is how I react to these feelings of loneliness and worthlessness.  I can either keep hurting and wasting away my life for something that will never happen, or I can accept that my family is "broken" and focus on moving on with my life.

I'm working to stop putting money into my "family machine"..It's very hard to accept..but I know that I will be able to, and one day move on with my life. You will too.