Sometimes it’s not about your friends cheering you up. Sometimes it’s about your friends soaking in the sad with you and yet not letting you wallow in it. There are times I’d rather have my friends quietly agree w/ my negative mood then try to falsely cheer me up. Ironically, I find myself feeling better afterwards.
Nothing ironic about that, it makes sense. The difference is that your feelings have been respected instead of “corrected.” Much easier to let negative feelings go when you don’t have to defend them against well meaning people who are trying to cheer you up.
Sometimes it’s not about your friends cheering you up. Sometimes it’s about your friends soaking in the sad with you and yet not letting you wallow in it. There are times I’d rather have my friends quietly agree w/ my negative mood then try to falsely cheer me up. Ironically, I find myself feeling better afterwards.
Nothing ironic about that, it makes sense. The difference is that your feelings have been respected instead of “corrected.” Much easier to let negative feelings go when you don’t have to defend them against well meaning people who are trying to cheer you up.
“Shared pain is lessened, shared joy is increased”
-Spider Robinson
Amen, Dave11. You took the words right off of my keys. Good to know that I’m not the only Spider fan here!