looks like the drugs are working...

Dear Old Liz,

Hey! How have you been? Long time no see, dude. Whatever happened to you?

Remember when you had dreams? Remember when you had these larger than life plans for the future? Remember when you wanted to save the world from AIDS and how you were going to do that through education? Remember how driven and motivated you were? Whatever happened to that?

Remember how you never wanted to get married? Remember how the possibility of being domesticated by the institution of marriage repulsed you? Remember how the lure of free love was intoxicating?

Oh yeah, you got that boyfriend. Not like it’s his fault or anything. In fact, he probably fell in love with the super-motivated, goal-oriented you. So what changed? Why did you go away?

That’s right, I replaced you. Liz was drawn by the lure of domesticity, the comfort of being loved. Slowly but surely, Liz replaced your goals with mine. You see, I want to get married. I want to have a family. I want to walk the future kids to school and drive them to little league. I want to be dedicated to the man in my life. I want to ensure his happiness. Your goals just didn’t seem to fit any more so I took over.

Well, guess what? Liz isn’t happy. In fact, she’s been going to therapy and stuff, trying to solve her issues. She’s even taking drugs, which she really did want to do but her shrink says they’ll help (not the illegal kind, silly. Please, she doesn’t even smoke!).

I don’t think I make her happy. Liz is just too dedicated to her man now. She’s totally forgotten about herself and what she wants in life. She’s frustrated with her work. She’s convinced that Jesse will never marry her. She misses home a lot. At least her friends still like her. I wonder if they’ve noticed these changes too.

I propose a solution. I think you (Old Liz) need to come back. But me, New Liz, I don’t want to go away. So we need to work together. We need to find a balance where Liz can still be happy and dedicated to her man, but remember that what she wants is important too. Are you up for the challenge of working together? What do you think we should do?

Looking forward to your reply,
New Liz

Dear New Liz,

Tell Liz she needs to get some of her old life back. Tell Liz she needs to go out, go to coalition meetings and network and she needs to be open to the possibility of a new job. She needs to surround herself with people who share her interests and goals. She needs to get off her ass and go to the gym 4 times a week like she used to (not whenever she feels like it). Tell Liz that me and her friends forgive her for spending so much time with her man (he’s pretty hot, so I don’t blame her).

And tell her I’m back.

Laters,
Old Liz