⏰ Counting down till the stepkids turn 18
High conflict and excess drama ending in 3… 2… 1… 🎂
I'd been with Dan about 4 years when I heard about the customizable online countdown timer over in the stepparenting subreddit. Like the OP had done, I typed in my stepkid’s 18th birthday date to see exactly how much longer I’d have to put up with her mother's toxic bullshit.
And then I cried.
Because there was no way I could survive 8 more years of this, all laid out for me in ruthlessly precise hours, minutes, and seconds on my laptop.
All I could see was 8 more miserable years of stepparenting PTSD, never knowing where the next attack was coming from. My anxiety was already through the roof; my depression was digging the basement out deeper.
I cannot do this, I thought, staring at the computer screen through my tears, seconds clicking past. This marriage was a terrible mistake.
A couple minutes went by like that, according to the timer. Then 3 minutes.
Hey. I just got 3 minutes closer, I told myself. We went 3 whole minutes without any new drama happening.
3 whole minutes.
Minute by minute is the only way to look at stepparenting in high conflict sometimes. I mean, if I could survive 3 minutes, I could surely survive the rest of the day. And if I could make it a day, I could make it a week. I could keep going like that till I finally reached 8 years' worth of minutes. (Right?? 😬)
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