I just posted on Facebook what I thought was a little statement of positivity. I was feeling good about life and my place in the world, and I wanted to post a little comment about how my general outlook of self-loathing and negativity was proven wrong..again. There have been several moments this week that really reminded me of how good I have it and how valued I am by those in my life. I had a moment where it hit me how many positives I've experienced this week, amidst the moments of crazy, and I decided to post on it.
Then it was quickly dismissed by a friend as a moment of drunk posting, which it was not.
And I fell right back into despair. Because my general view of myself was proven: I'm weird, people think I'm nuts, melodramatic, foolish, and silly. That one little comment, one little negative comment, innocently intended as a glib little joke, destroyed all the warmth I was feeling. All I could think about on reading it was how everyone else would read it the same way, would accuse me of being drunk, of being stupid. They would laugh at me because I'm the freak people have always assumed me to be. I spent ten minutes crying about it until I finally decided it was best just to delete the posting as a form of damage control.
So here I sit. Right back in despair. Because of one little comment that was not meant to overpower a series of messages of warmth and positivity. I can blame no one but myself for this overreaction, but nonetheless, it's a reminder to me of how one glib little passing statement isn't meaningless. We have to watch our words, lest they be taken seriously. We all have a responsibility to choose our statements carefully to avoid turning someone into a gelatinous mess who won't sleep tonight because she's too busy thinking about all the ways and the reasons why people hate her.
Words are not powerless.
3 comments:
I wanted to say that, although I am sorry to hear about this whole incident, I am also somehow comforted. You are not weird, Dena. You are pretty darn awesome. But, I know exactly how you feel. This very afternoon, just the smallest comment, which contained no real judgment directed toward me, was enough to send me hurtling toward despair and I was ready to drown there in it. I am so, so lonely. Sometimes my wanting and wishing for the impossible, for the comfort of family and old friends, gets in the way and I can't see past it to all the good things. So, anyway, I hope that you know you are marvelous and your friends are very lucky to have you.
You ARE fabulous!!! I'm sorry that someone hurt you with their words, even if unintentional.
Thanks, ladies. You're both kind. I know I need to just focus on the good and ignore the bad! Life's too short to have things ruined by such smallness!
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