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I have started this post five different times, and keep deleting it. This morning the words are not flowing well, but at the same time I feel the need to post. Things between j and I are improving, and I can see that he is working hard to serve me (despite me telling him that I felt we should discontinue our D/s practices, at least for the time being).
I am enjoying his efforts, and I must admit it is nice to be able to sit back and take in his submission without being Dominant. When I am Dominant, at times I feel I have to be something akin to a mother to j. I tell him what I expect from him, and then I have to go around behind him checking to see if it is done (and done well). If it is not, I have to come up with an appropriate punishment, or "lecture" him.
For me, this is not working very well. Too often things are not done in a timely manner, or the way I expect, and I am left feeling let down. That decreases my feelings of Dominance, because if my commands are not followed, surely he is not submitting as he should (and maybe I'm not being as Dominant as I should be). I get off on him submitting to me. His submission drives me to be more and more Dominant (just as I would imagine my Dominance drives him to be more and more submissive).
In an ideal world, j would follow my direction without question and without fail. The "punishments" that I give would be administered simply as an exciting way to increase my Dominance over him. And, most importantly, if I told him to do something, I could rest assured that it would be done and done well. Now I know our world is far from ideal, and that many times life gets in the way, but our venture into D/s began as a result of his suggestion. I have encouraged this time away from D/s because I feel it will increase his appreciation for the way things were. I hope that as we return to our roles, we work harder to be Dominant and submissive out of sheer desire, not a sense of obligation or feeling it is the way things should be.
As my mother always said, "Be a labor great or small, do it well or not at all."