[ SECRET POST #3088 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3088 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 020 secrets from Secret Submission Post #441.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Family Issues

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry to hear this, anon; I too have this problem - I'm quiet, so people assume that I want to listen to their crap. Not the case, but I'm usually too gobsmacked at their insensitivity to keep on saying "just stow it."

I have, however, begun employing body language when being used as emotional dustbin. Not making eye contact helps. I gaze out of the window or at a cloud and think about something else. If someone calls me out on it, I say that I realise I've been making people uncomfortable with All The Eye Contact and am training myself out of it.

I've been telling people that their ranting is bringing back bad memories (of other times they've ranted at me, to be sure, but I don't actually say that) and let's talk about something else. That sometimes shuts them up.

I tell people I'm not the person they need and that asking me to be their sympathetic listener is like asking a disabled person to carry them. Absolutely true. Sometimes it doesn't go down too well; it depends on whether you think they're going to turn on you.

Don't even attempt to mediate. You will just end up with both sides shooting at you.

Finally, I've read elsewhere on the internet that it takes five instances of boundary-enforcing for it to stick. Which is awful, and bloody rude of them, but probably true.

Good luck, anon. You're not responsible for their emotional health any more than you are for their physical health. You look after you and leave them to sort out their own crap if you possibly can. It beats me why some people expect others to want to listen to this kind of unpleasantness, but they do, they do. :(((