Melancholy (noun): a sad, thoughtful state of mind
For the last couple of days I have been experiencing an intense feeling of melancholy. Disagreement and miscommunication with a family member has prompted me to become introspective and has caused feelings of detachment and distance from my family.
I have been speculating on the source of this feeling of distance. Part of it is, I'm sure, physical distance. I live a good forty-five minute drive away from my family and I don't see them as often as I used to. But part of it is ideological. I've been living my life away from my family for a few years now, and it is surprising to me now how far away my thinking is from the way it was even five years ago. In short, I have grown up and am my own person. I am proud of this, but occasionally I am reminded that in following my own path, I am walking further and further away from the security and comfort of the known.
Melancholy is my friend. This state of mind allows me to draw inward and discover more about the person I have become and am still becoming. There is hurt along the way, to be sure, but there is also growth.
Image: Melancholy (C) 2008 Pamela Davis Kivelson
Definition: Collins Australian Dictionary, Concise Edition, Sixth Edition (C) 2006 HarperCollins Publishers
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