kyburg: (Default)
[personal profile] kyburg
I encourage you to be angry at me. With me. Seriously.

About the only thing I warn you is that I might notice the fact, note it for future reference and move on to my next task.

That's all.

If I actually have anything to do with your ire, I will do what I can about it. You can be fairly sure I will cop to it. Even if it's only a 'sorry that made you mad' and slap a disclaimer on the back end of it.

But if you are insulted or further infuriated by my perceived lack of concern? I don't suggest getting angry at me as a way of making your argument.

I don't automatically get angry at people angry at me.

I mention a long history with depressive issues - there are real reasons for them, but there are also real solutions to same I've been taught over the years.

My first encounter with the couch was before the age of ten. My last was over twenty years ago. I consult with trained professionals these days for very nuts-and-bolts issues with finite need for their services - but before I was 27? I fought a battle to simply avoid being institutionalized. I was that anxious.

It was so very crucial that nobody hate me. If they got angry at me? HORRORS. No, really.

What finally set me free was getting up close and personal with the concept that other's people's issues? Belonged to them. And I had no control over them, and attempting to gain control? Icky. Manipulative. Pretty damn sucky, if you look at it. And none of them were things I was comfortable doing. It's not that I had lost anything by coming to this place - it was liberating, because this was something I'd never had the power to influence. And that was the truth - it really can set you free.

People can think anything they want about me. Ditto, in reverse. It changes nothing.

So one of the first thing I had to get comfortable with was other's people's displeasure, perceived or real, with me. It took practice. And to be honest? Initially, my closest relationships shifted considerably as it was discovered I would not be pushed by threatening me with anger. I had to get comfortable with the idea of being alone - possibly - if I stuck it out.

I discovered I was more stubborn than I ever realized. Add being as fair as possible, thinking things through and an innate lack of mean (I don't have time for it), and you come up with something pretty close to what I work with now. I can spend extended periods alone, by the way. It's not scary. Or an indication of personal failure.

You'd be amazed at how much more successful you can be in relationships when you're not frantic about being out of one at the same time.

I've had mean tossed at me. I can replicate it. I don't do it. It hurts and I don't respect people who, having experienced the same, reserve those *exact* tactics to hurt others. It's not even original. Feh.

And I don't give people who do that access to me.

Now, to the good? I'm okay with calling Marines out on bad behavior. Cliff was also good about teaching me the value of being Absolutely CRAZY as a offensive/defensive posture, and I kind of sit back sometimes and watch it in action with disbelief.

To the bad? I can come off stone cold and impassive. You do raise my ire, the ground may actually move. Very few things, people or otherwise, deserve that. Hence, my rule of 'if I can't be excellent to you, I will be nothing to you.'

Only thing I have control over - what I say and what I do.

What other people think usually has more to do with them, than with me. If there is something to be done? Fine. But I get to decide that.

Get angry with me. Knock yourself out. I just may not join the party - I get to decide that part.

Date: 2010-05-13 07:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] popfiend.livejournal.com
Read DFT today.

Read DFT.

:D

Date: 2010-05-13 11:09 pm (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
Sooooo busy today - but will try!

Liberating indeed

Date: 2010-05-13 08:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ragani.livejournal.com
"What finally set me free was getting up close and personal with the concept that other's people's issues? Belonged to them. And I had no control over them, and attempting to gain control? Icky. Manipulative. Pretty damn sucky, if you look at it. And none of them were things I was comfortable doing. It's not that I had lost anything by coming to this place - it was liberating, because this was something I'd never had the power to influence. And that was the truth - it really can set you free."

Yup. This is why I get so tired of people freaking out on me when I express my disappointment. I am allowed to be disappointed that something did not or will not happen the way I wanted it to, even if it does have something to do with them. It is my being honest about my feelings, not me trying to be manipulative. I am sorry you are used to people using it to be manipulative, but sometimes it is just me being disappointed, which is a healthy emotion to express in most situations. And when they "do something wrong" and I bring it up to them, beating themselves up about it does me no good so why would I want that? I point it out as a way to let them know so they have the opportunity to learn about what my needs are. Standing up for my needs is something I can do, making them other people's priority is up to them.

Re: Liberating indeed

Date: 2010-05-13 11:28 pm (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
There are a couple of ways to approach this that work better than others -

My least favorite is saying 'don't be mad, but - '

I like using the words 'I wish - ' and be good about it, stay balanced, nobody likes being told they fell down on the job and all that. 'Maybe next time - ' is also a nice one.

But boy. Once is plenty. After that, it's on me to cope.

Date: 2010-05-13 09:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dansa.livejournal.com
I'm doing this big class program school thing right now (descriptive, huh?), and they have units about other stuff beyond just the specific school work we have on our plates. We had a pretty big chunk on emotions, and the notation that they kept attempting to drive home over and over and over was 'I can't control how I feel, but I CAN control how I think and act'. I've always been pretty good at that awareness, but putting it into words as it was really moved it into *consciousness*, very specifically. The switch was flipped. It's a pretty life-changing realization, in a lot of ways.

Date: 2010-05-13 11:25 pm (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
Thinking drives emotions - not the only way around. It's akin to the chicken and the eggs in some cases - you really don't know WHAT set off the emotions - but if you allow the thinking to take over, the emotions follow like carts follow horses.

Date: 2010-05-14 12:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peachtales.livejournal.com
"And I had no control over them, and attempting to gain control? Icky. Manipulative. Pretty damn sucky, if you look at it."

We've all heard the first part before, but I've never heard someone put the logical conclusion to that into words better. Thanks.

Date: 2010-05-14 01:57 am (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
The best part is that you never ever drop your guard if you're trying to make everyone else dance to your tune.

Because you never really know if it's 'working' - or if it ever did, to be frank. That kind of stuff is just crazy making.

Date: 2010-05-14 02:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peachtales.livejournal.com
It's always driven me crazed when a certain boss would tell me that I need to work better with someone. I can't make that other person behave in a professional manner, all I can do is do that myself. Or she would tell me that I need to change a person's perception of me. Perception, by its very nature being 100% subjective, and I would always answer that the only thing I could impact was what *I* did. Perhaps if I had had your explanation in mind, I could've communicated to her what I meant. *headdesk*

Date: 2010-05-14 04:27 pm (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
I've left jobs when I couldn't find a way to 'work with' someone - it's a very tricky thing, and some times? Not possible, with the hardest work and best intentions.

Being able to listen and not push buttons? That talent is priceless. It'll take anyone a long, long way.

Date: 2010-05-14 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nagasvoice.livejournal.com
Yes, this. One of the problems is that people get all twisted up with those folks who *do* try to manipulate everything. I've had a pretty good course in people trying to "improve" me. *Neanderthal glare*

Date: 2010-05-14 04:29 pm (UTC)
ext_20420: (Default)
From: [identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com
I have a family that doesn't think I know anything, and they have no problem telling me - interrupting me, no less - to inform me of the fact. At will.

That's when I go home. I can go comb a cat.

Date: 2010-05-14 08:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nagasvoice.livejournal.com
Besides, the cats like combing (unlike waxing your cat). And they have no trouble telling you they like that, either!

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