Bad Morning

A week or so ago I tried out a new coping experiment. I was tired of how nerve-wracking it is to encounter people going the opposite direction when I walk around the lake. It's scary because I worry they'll say something and I'll offend them by freezing up or even responding awkwardly. The experiment was to resolve ahead of time that I would ignore everyone and let them think what they will. It worked great -- nobody tried to say anything to me and my anxiety was way down that day.

This morning, the experience was quite different. An old man said "good morning." I was caught halfway between ignoring and giving a sort of nod. He scoffed and said to his wife, "He's either deaf or he completely ignored me!" So I felt horrible, an evil person who goes around offending the elderly. A few minutes later another old man (by himself, so a little less threatening) said "good morning", and that time I managed a quietly mumbled "morning" in reply. I avoided looking at him so that I wouldn't know if he was making a face that indicated he thought I was acting crazy, of course. Finally, a young woman jogged by with yet another "good morning"... this time I froze up, my mouth moved a little but nothing came out, but fortunately she didn't have anyone there to complain about me to and was moving fast.

The moral? Never get up before noon.
 
If practice made perfect, 28 years of it would've made at least decent. I've never been agoraphobic, so I've always been encountering walking greetings situations... sometimes I mumble a reply and sometimes I don't.
 

Sacrament

Well-known member
You should be grateful that there are nice people out there who'll say good morning to a complete stranger. I don't understand how hard it can be to simply smile and say good morning back at them. It's not like you're going to interact with them for a long time, and you won't have to seem like an ass.
 

Patrick123

Well-known member
This morning, the experience was quite different. An old man said "good morning." I was caught halfway between ignoring and giving a sort of nod. He scoffed and said to his wife, "He's either deaf or he completely ignored me!"

My philosophy: Fuck 'em. All people suck. It would have been better (might have made you feel better too) to have doubled back to tell the old man "I heard you, but I ignored you because I want nothing to do with your pathetic, meaningless existence. You've made it to your twilight years -and in the meantime, you've most likely managed to consume more than your fair share of this world's resources and emit more than your fair share of pollution, thereby making my own existence even shittier than your's has ever been. Congratulations. But most of all, thanks for reminding me of the world that you've left for me. It's my sincere hope that the skin blemish on your forehead is, indeed, a malignant growth and that your demise is of impending imminence. How's that for 'hello', you old fuck?"
 

jamie99

Well-known member
Hey i was like that, now i say good morning to everyone i see, you would be surprised how many dont respond back, its about 50%
 

Klaus

Well-known member
Hoth said:
If practice made perfect, 28 years of it would've made at least decent. I've never been agoraphobic, so I've always been encountering walking greetings situations... sometimes I mumble a reply and sometimes I don't.

I was assuming that you were doing an experiment and your goal was to walk at the lake without feeling anxiety...

And practice is helping me, but I'm in meds and cbt...
 

Sacrament

Well-known member
Patrick123 said:
This morning, the experience was quite different. An old man said "good morning." I was caught halfway between ignoring and giving a sort of nod. He scoffed and said to his wife, "He's either deaf or he completely ignored me!"

My philosophy: Fuck 'em. All people suck. It would have been better (might have made you feel better too) to have doubled back to tell the old man "I heard you, but I ignored you because I want nothing to do with your pathetic, meaningless existence. You've made it to your twilight years -and in the meantime, you've most likely managed to consume more than your fair share of this world's resources and emit more than your fair share of pollution, thereby making my own existence even shittier than your's has ever been. Congratulations. But most of all, thanks for reminding me of the world that you've left for me. It's my sincere hope that the skin blemish on your forehead is, indeed, a malignant growth and that your demise is of impending imminence. How's that for 'hello', you old fuck?"

Someone's bitter and annoying. I'm glad I don't know you personally.
 

drumev

Active member
Patrick123 said:
I'm glad I don't know you personally.

Trust me, the feeling's mutual; I already have to deal with too many room-temperature IQ'rs...

Patrick, I think this forum is all about people seeking and giving eachother understanding and support. What are you doing here? Is it easier to live in denial? Running from your your problems by convincing yourself you're just different isn't going to make them go away. I'm saying it with the best of intentions.
 

Sacrament

Well-known member
Patrick123 said:
I'm glad I don't know you personally.

Trust me, the feeling's mutual; I already have to deal with too many room-temperature IQ'rs...

Like your own. I understand.

What I don't understand is why the hell you have to be so bitter when we're talking about an old man saying 'good morning' out of good will, knowing he didn't have to say good morning at all but was just trying to be nice. Your little comment up there makes me feel sorry for you.
 
Maybe next time you should try saying hi to people before they say it to you. It makes you seem like a really nice friendly guy, and the people will think "What a nice young man!"

And remember seniors have a negative view on the youth of today. And since you're only 28 I think he probably put you in the category of "selfish, rude young man"
 

Hoth2

New member
flakeybarrk said:
However, do you ever wear head phones?

That's a good idea. I don't know why, but somehow I feel awkward about the concept of wearing headphones in public. Will force myself to try it sometime.
 
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