Posted by white rabbit on April 10, 2003, at 23:12:28
In reply to How to take a break??, posted by NikkiT2 on April 10, 2003, at 10:42:33
I've taken occasional breaks from PSB over the years, although for different reasons - sometimes because my husband was reading my posts and getting upset, and sometimes because I just got too depressed to write.
When I felt like writing again, it's always been OK to just come on back and start posting again.
Whenever you're ready. No formalities needed when you exit or enter, your friends miss you when you're gone and always welcome you back. If things are getting too intense for you, take a little break. Check in with the more neutral sites, like the book club, but give PSB a rest.But don't let a few irritating or irrational posters drive you away permanently from the people who enjoy your company. My own solution is to just ignore the posters who piss me off. I don't read their posts because I know that this person and I are not in sync. I don't feel any need to argue or try to sympathize with their point of view, because it's useless.
Well, at least I do try to keep this attitude going most of the time. We like to think that everyone else on earth has a somewhat similar set of morals and values as we have, but this simply isn't true. Even people that appear to be kindred on the surface (see my rant on my Pakistani doctor
in Psychological Babble) may turn out to be Martians under the skin.For example, on my first involuntary confinement to a mental ward, my roommate was a woman just like me...white, married with children, late 30s.
Unlike me, she talked and talked and talked. She sat on her bed, picking at her toenails, and told me that her life at home was hell because she had
four kids and a husband who beat all of them without mercy, even the baby. This woman told me that whenever she got "fed up", she would cut her arms with a razor and call an ambulance."This is my vacation," she said, laughing. "No husband, no kids, no housework. This is the third time I've been in here."
"Where are your kids now?" I asked her.
She kind of shrugged and said, "I guess they're at home with my husband."I nearly walked over there and slapped her across the face. Whether this is a normal reaction for any moral person or a result of my own careless upbringing, I couldn't say.
The point is, despite all our similarities, no amount of conversation between myself and this woman could bring about an understanding between the two of us. I could argue all day long that children are precious without changing her point of view. So, why concern yourself with posters who
obviously have no real grasp on reality or decency? Why let them deprive you of conversation with people who like you?Identify these people, and ignore their posts.
-Gracie
poster:white rabbit
thread:218157
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030407/msgs/218400.html