Thread by @TheRealHoarse

I’m just going to bitch for a second.

We all deal with stress and anxiety differently. I get calm when things gets crazy.

The more people around me freak out, the more I suspend emotion and anchor. That’s just my nature.

1/

There are reasons for that. (Adult children of alcoholics, hello!)

And then, as I’m anchored against a rising wind, I feel the energy of others’ stress and anxiety intensely.

I am more stressed about others’ stress than about my own.

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It is no fun to be intensely anxious. It isn’t fun to feel physically and emotionally overwrought.

There are a healthy number of people like myself who say calming, optimistic, positive things because while you may not need to hear them, some people do.

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People get knocked to their knees and even bridging them from the initial trauma to just a little while later gives them time to get their legs back under them.

If you don’t need that, you aren’t the target.

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And that brings me to the bitching:

If you are coping but just angry or disappointed or just talking to talk, catastrophizing is selfish.

There are people who could use some care right now.

Saying all is lost and pissing on people saying otherwise is selfish.

5/

If you’re doing okay - stressed but not overwhelmed - gather up the people having a hard time.

Cut the self-indulgent doom and gloom. Cut the sniping at others.

If you are relatively okay, grab some scrubs and help tend to the wounded.

Some people actually NEED that now.

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