Barking Space

It’s interesting how you can go through life for so long thinking about not only acting, but being a particular way because you think that it’s helpful to others – but really, you’re just being an ignorant knob and you should have given your head a shake a long time ago.

For the longest time, I thought that the phrase “misery loves company” meant that relating to people’s pain was best done in a way that took a similar tone. In my head, I figured that people liked to know that there were others out there who were also having a bad time, which would mean that they didn’t have to suffer alone.

Now, things in my life aren’t really bad at all – but that doesn’t mean that I can’t find something to complain about (I am a person with a Facebook account, after all); so, rather than focus on the fact that things are well, I would nitpick my own life and come up with a negative spin on things. It’s funny how when I write it out like that it sounds really idiotic.

It was at a recent gathering that one of my friends was complaining to me about something and then made reference to me in a positive way. Of course, my reply was more like a rebuttal, which was met with a sharp admonition about how I was full of shit and that things were probably better than I was saying.

And it was then that I realized that maybe people who were feeling low needed the acknowledgement that they were in the doldrums along with some reassurance that someone that they care about is enjoying some measure of success. Not “over-the-top-Facebook-overshare-blatant-fake-publicity” reassurance – but “honest-to-goodness-Hey!-I’m-doing-all-right-and-one-day-you-will-be-too” messaging.

Maybe being a force for good means allowing yourself to feel good and sharing that with others.

Filed under: Anecdotes, Friends, Ponderings | Tagged: Good Vibes, Misery, Negativity, Positivity, Sharing |