Dumpster Fire(s)
If you watched the recent presidential debate, you may have heard that some news analysts referred to the event as a “dumpster fire.” This is not a political post. For the sake of this article, I am completely disinterested in your political leanings. If you did watch the debate, you could agree to it being excruciatingly painful to watch. It had little to do with the content, and more to do with the presentation. In my line of work, often I am working with adult children who are dealing with their own dumpster fires.
Now, if you are a parent and you have never heard this expression before. Let me enlighten you. According to Dictionary.com, the informal definition means:
a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation.
"last season was a dumpster fire, and it didn't get that way overnight"
Just to be clear. This is a noun. There is a distinction of who vs. do. I am not saying that my clients themselves are dumpster fires, but rather events and situations in their lives are presenting as such. They are mishandled, chaotic, disastrous, catastrophic, destructive, unlucky, or tragic. I am referencing their college experience. Or, a recent run-in with law enforcement where they are now staring down a laundry list of felony charges. They are ruining relationships in their lives, left and right. And like the image of a dumpster that is on fire, we are a moth to the flame. We may be just sitting there, watching it burn.
My job is to help put those fires out. It’s to help parents, put those fires out. And it’s to get the young adult connected to resources that will remove the match. They can dump as much gasoline into the dumpster that is any event or category within their life, but they have no one of igniting that fire.
If you are a parent who references your adult child as being a dumpster fire, or if you believe that their life is filled with dumpster fires – please let me help you. No one wants to watch this kind of garbage (no pun intended) play out.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
