These Words of Don Draper Have Stuck With Me
The man had a FEW actual truths and wisdom. I repeat few.
Last week my therapist and I were talking about what would the child version of myself would need. What can I provide her with to live a happy life? I’ve had the past week to think about this deeply, to think about my childhood. I thought about giving her more attention. Making her feel like she isn’t alone and to never come up with the idea of being an introverted and reserved person. This the main thing I want to tell her, but proving to her to make herself believe this, that can be quite hard. It’s hard because I have no clue as to what that can look like. I’ve never had to think about myself in such a way! As I’ve spent these days thinking about this and my childhood in different aspects, my mind when on a tangent. My mind circles back to this quote from Don Draper in Mad Men. I saw this when I was about eighteen or nineteen and it’s perfectly instilled into my brain because it’s is a fear we once have as a child grows up and as an adult you find yourself doing or thinking in a way that makes you step back and go “i’m just like my father( or mother).”
In season 7 episode 10, when sally is about to board the bus she and don have one last interaction for the episode. After spending sometime with him and her friends all together and witnessing his gross behavior she tells him something would upset any parent. Or so I assume. Sally basically says that she wants to go far away that is from him and her mother. She cannot grow to be like them because of all of their negative attributes she’s witnessed her entire life. Of course this upsets Don to which he responds with something like that she will always be like them, she will see in time over and over again.
Thinking about this is making me cringe and laugh because GOD DO I THINK THAT IS SO TRUE. Yes, you are your own person and only you can control you actions and the way you speak. You can do so much in your power to not be, in this case, like your parents. Seeing how they act and how much it upsets you can put you on a path when your start to have some sense of agency and independence to the idea of what it means to be good and decent human being. But as Sally sort of alluded to before her father started talking, she’s grown up with seeing her parents actions. So that is instilled in her brain. When we grow older and have specific emotions such as anger or anxiety, how do we react? Do you find yourself being destructive like your father when you are angry? Do you become restless when you are so anxious just like your mother?
I feel like if you want nothing to do of your parents behavior, that you do not want to act or even think like them, then there are tools you can use to become the opposite. To me, realizing that you are your own person that you can choose what you want to be in life and having that sense of awareness is kind of something someone who’s a bit of an intellectual can do. It can also be a brave thing to do depending on the relationship you have with your parents. One theme of Mad Men is living a lie and having two identities and how you can never escape your past.Which to those who’ve seen the series you understand this. So seeing how Don made the point of how his daughter will always be like him and Betty, it is interesting. Interesting because he himself knows exactly how sally feels as he was once in her position and what he did to become Don Draper will always affect him for life.
There isn’t much more I wanted to speak about today, other than this. I’m keepin it short and sweet today. But this is something I have thought about a lot, Don’s words to Sally. Just pondering on my own actions and thoughts versus my parents and seeing where the simlarities and differences are. And seeing where these ideologies could have originated from. I really love to just ponder and analyze things, like I should’ve went to school to do something like that instead of go to film school.
Anyway, have a good rest of your Monday.