{"id":2506,"date":"2019-07-29T07:28:32","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T11:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/?p=2506"},"modified":"2019-07-29T08:14:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T12:14:36","slug":"why-cant-i-keep-my-mouth-shut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/why-cant-i-keep-my-mouth-shut\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Can&#8217;t I Keep my Mouth Shut?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2507 size-large\" title=\"Why Can't I Keep my Mouth Shut?   Robin Botie of Ithaca, New York, photoshops a bad-ass flower, a zinnia, as she wonders, Why can't I keep my mouth shut?\" src=\"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost-737x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Robin Botie of Ithaca, New York, photoshops a bad-ass flower, a zinnia, as she wonders, Why can't I keep my mouth shut?\" width=\"625\" height=\"868\" data-popupalt-original-title=\"null\" srcset=\"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost-737x1024.jpg 737w, https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost-216x300.jpg 216w, https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost-768x1066.jpg 768w, https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost-624x866.jpg 624w, https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/YellowZinniaPost.jpg 1166w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a>We\u2019re all better off if I say nothing this week. Because these days, too many of my truest feelings and worst thoughts keep slipping out of my mouth. No, they tumble out of my mouth and flatten everyone within earshot. My most bold opinions come spewing out of me like semi-automatic gunfire. And people don\u2019t usually react well to this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I don\u2019t know if this crankiness and loss of control is because of all the rain, the heat, my advanced age, the current political turmoil, or possibly just boredom from my new diet of chard and fish\u2014but lately I seem to have zero ability to hold my tongue. At unexpected times I feel compelled to speak what\u2019s in my mind. And I\u2019m a stick of dynamite with a short fuse, a walking time bomb that could explode if you say the wrong thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Why can\u2019t I keep my mouth shut? In the past, I was always the wishy-washy one, the one who wouldn\u2019t take a stand, couldn\u2019t make a decision. Teachers and friends used to beg me to speak up and be more assertive. And now, I have no patience for others\u2019 cruelty, stupidity, or anything that does not comply with what I perceive as the truth. At the first inkling of discomfort, I\u2019m likely to spout out,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Hey, life\u2019s too short, and Hey, I don\u2019t have to swallow any nonsense anymore. I\u2019m one tough bitch with a dead daughter. So don\u2019t mess with my head.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Photographing flowers calms me down, helps me to see sense. But there was nothing quiet about this brazen-faced zinnia. In a week-old bouquet, it still blazed brilliant among the shriveled-up blooms surrounding it. <a href=\"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/finding-resilience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Another bad-ass flower<\/a>. Sassy. Like the daughter I\u2019m missing. Yow, back in her times I would be crushed to the pulp whenever she unloaded what she had to say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>What gets your goat? Or gets you to verbally attack the ones you love most?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&rsquo;re all better off if I say nothing this week. Because these days, too many of my truest feelings and worst thoughts keep slipping out of my mouth. No, they tumble out of my mouth and flatten everyone within earshot. My most bold opinions come spewing out of me like semi-automatic gunfire. And people don&rsquo;t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758],"tags":[102,1934,1933,1935,1896,1936,1938,1937,1932],"class_list":["post-2506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1758","tag-dealing-with-loss","tag-dont-speak-your-mind-in-public","tag-keeping-your-opinions-to-yourself","tag-let-yourself-be-heard","tag-lifes-too-short","tag-loss-of-control","tag-mouthing-off","tag-verbal-attack","tag-why-cant-i-keep-my-mouth-shut"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}