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The Tuesday I cried in the frozen foods aisle over a bag of peas | Divorce Support - Vivisector

The Tuesday I cried in the frozen foods aisle over a bag of peas

Last month I had a day so bad I ended up sobbing in the grocery store because the frozen peas I wanted were out of stock. It sounds crazy, but that was the same week my ex got the car in the settlement and my kid said he missed dad's house more. Something about those missing peas just broke me right there between the ice cream and the pizza rolls. Has anyone else hit that one random weird trigger that made everything spill out?

3 comments

3 Comments

val_ramirez1mo ago

Read this article about how grief can be tied to really random things. It said that when we're holding a lot of emotion inside, the smallest thing can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Like your brain finally says "okay, this is the one we're going to cry about" even if it's a bag of peas. That frozen aisle is a weirdly emotional place too, all those bright lights and cold air. You're not crazy, that's just how it works sometimes.

gavin_kim1mo ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who was like "just get a grip" until I sobbed over a broken lightbulb in a hardware store parking lot last year. @felixlane mentioned that list of five things and that really clicked with me because I've been trying something similar where I just mentally note one small win from the day. The frozen aisle thing is so real though, something about the fluorescent lights and the cold just amplifies everything.

felixlane1mo ago

The frozen aisle is a TRAP for this stuff. I had a full breakdown over a broken jar of pasta sauce once in the middle of a Tuesday. My trick is to keep a little list on my phone of five things that are going fine. It sounds DUMB but when your brain wants to latch onto the peas or the sauce you can at least argue back a little. Also I found that going to the store when I'm already emotionally exhausted is a BAD idea. If I can I just order grocery pickup and save the meltdown for my own kitchen where nobody can see me. It's not about avoiding the grief it's about picking your battlefield.