⊗ Mediate on your relationship with yourself because self-esteem is important
⊗ show everyone our bug
Look at my beetle! You're calling this out to The Storm before you've even crossed far enough across the camp to be in speaking distance, bouncing at every step. Your paw is stretched in front of your body, eager to present your offering to new eyes.
Well, hello there squirt! The Storm is combing her ears as she watches you approach, her nose twitching with interest. Nice catch you got there. Is that still alive?
You look down at it, shaking it a little. It doesn't really respond. I think so? I didn't squish it. It's hard. I've been holding it careful.
Huh. Well, maybe it needs something to eat? How long can bugs go without food?
This is highly concerning to you. What do bugs eat?
Honey? Sweet things usually, I think. The Storm makes the gesture of uncertainty, a flick of her tail. I haven't looked too deep into them, soz.
You tilt your head in confusion, though the majority of your attention is on the beetle.
Short for sorry, She clarifies.
Oh, okay. Very carefully, gently, you release the curled fingers wrapped around it, holding it closer to you to check for signs of life. As soon as you do, however, there's immediately movement - with a squeak of surprise, you fall back onto your backside as the beetle motors its wings and launches itself towards your face, and then when you fall over, away into the sky.
You watch it motor away and make a whine of disappointment, but you're glad that the insect seemed okay... Even if it did trick you and run away like that.
Kha-hah! The Storm barks her own surprise and amusement, watching the bug's mock-death tactic bear fruition. Didn't know those little buggers could make plans like that. Good for them, eh?
Yeah... You can't help but pout as you climb back to your feet. I wanted to show everyone I caught it.
You also came here to see her for another reason though! Maybe she can even help you with all the upset feelings you have.
You make people like each other more, right?
Hah, that does about sum up my job. Why, do you need my help?
I want you to do that to me! So I can like myself more.
She puts her paw on top of your head and begins petting you, looking at you with a glimmer of concern you don't quite understand in her eye. Oi... Do you not like yourself, Winged?
No, I like myself fine. You feel a little confused about the question. But you make people like each other more, right? The Little says it's good to do things before they become a problem. So I want to do that. Liking myself is important, right?
The Storm relaxes, and lets out a chuffaw. Ah, is that so? Alright, that's pretty cute. That's not technically what I usually do, but you know? I like your attitude. It's exactly right that stopping issues before they happen is better than letting them fester. Alright, sit down here, squirt, and I'll see what I can do.
You immediately plop down again onto the sandy dirt without a second thought, looking up at her expectantly. She watches as your pelt becomes that much dirtier - something you yourself have no particular awareness of.
Alright! She bends down and sits on a tuft of grass across from you, hind legs braced on the ground such that she can place her forepaws on top of them. So imagine this. Something bad has happened; maybe you've messed up on something; you made a mistake, you hurt the feelings of someone you care about, or something bad happened to you. You're frustrated with yourself, yeah? And maybe you're thinking to yourself something like, you're a bad person for hurting someone. Or that you're a failure for not getting something right.
You nod along.
Well, that's not a helpful way to think about it! Whether whatever went wrong was in your control or not, see, thinking about it that way is like punishing yourself. You're hurting yourself by thinking of yourself like that, and it can make it harder for you to want to even try to do something in the future. Because you're beating yourself up.
It's like, if you put your paw in fire and it hurts, you don't want to put your paw in there anymore, right? If you try to do something, and then you yell at yourself for doing it wrong, that's like getting burned. You won't want to keep doing whatever it is. And that's all well and good when it's something like fire, but if it's something that shouldn't hurt you, it's like, you made a wrong association.
Think like, if you were doing something you liked. Like catching a bug. But the bug bit you. Maybe you don't want to catch bugs anymore, maybe you do but you're scared of getting hurt again, yeah? So imagine you still want to catch bugs - what do you do? Maybe you try to catch bugs that don't bite, or maybe you decide to keep catching bugs anyway, but if you're scared of getting bit, it might be harder to catch them now. Because now you're hesitating when you should be jumping.
This also makes sense to you, you think. You haven't been bit by a bug before yet - that was the first bug you caught - but you've tripped hard before, and it hurts. You don't want to trip again.
So you beating yourself up? That's the bug bite. People don't like getting hurt, so if you do that to yourself, of course you'll also want to do the thing less - or it'll get harder to do, because even though you want to do it, now it's scary. So it's better to think constructively. You might be frustrated, so it's best to either think about something else and try to cool off, or maybe you could think, "this is really annoying a situation to be in right now. Maybe this is my fault, maybe it isn't, but I have to think on what I can do to solve it instead. This doesn't make me anything, that is not a helpful way to think."
Or, I guess, something like that.
She scratches her chin with her paw. Like I said, it's not exactly what my job is, but hopefully that helped at least some. If a specific problem comes up, you can always talk to me about it then.
You nod eagerly. That was cool, Storm!
Khaha! No problem, squirt. She ruffles your head fur. And listen, I know you're like, the age of a molecule, but if you do have anything you want to talk about with helping improve your friendships with the other kids or what-have-you, or if you're arguing over who gets a toy or whatev, feel free to ask anyway. That's my job, after all.
You have 2 mediator uses remaining this month.