Am I the only one who tends to avoid going into threads that are sad? I’m just too easily upset by things and so I will generally avoid going into a thread about someone’s dad/uncle/friend/gerbil/Tamagotchi or whatever dying or other really emotionally upsetting topics. I don’t avoid them because I don’t care, I avoid them because I will get all worked up about it and will probably be depressed and thinking about it for at least the rest of the day and right now I can’t afford that emotionally.
Anyone else want to admit to being a member of EWAA?
Ugh. Me too. I don’t read the RO posts either as so many of them are “dead baby/puppy/kitten”, and I just don’t need to get all worked up about whatever it is. I don’t watch movies or TV where people get hurt as part of the plot.
I remember there was a thread titled “Please puppy, don’t leave me” or something, and I winced and ran away from MPSIMS every time I saw it. I’d just recently lost my own beloved dog and just seeing that sentence slashed holes in my heart.
I still can’t look at pet-death or pet-impending-death threads, but I’m okay with them existing now.
I always read sad threads, but I have to confess to being a wuss and never actually replying to most of them. Anything I can think of to say generally seems silly and inadequate.
I can’t do the ones about dead or dying pets. I can handle dead or dying parents, but not puppies and kitties. I think that may possibly make me a bad person.
I do feel slightly guilty about skipping over threads about illnesses and deaths now because I remember how much I appreciated the advice, encouragement, and condolences I got when my wife was dying. But too often I find them bringing up feelings I thought I’d gotten over, even after four years.
I absolutely refuse to go near dead or dying pets threads. I won’t even mouse over them.
I don’t go into dead/dying relatives threads because I don’t really have anything to say. Especially losing a child/sibling/parent because that has never happened to me.
I really do appreciate the people who actually DO go into those threads and give our friends comfort. I’m glad to know that someday they’ll be there for me.
teary smile Me too! Hubby always laughs at me (nothing fazes him) but I’ll cry long before the proverbial hat even drops.
Anecdotal bit: three years ago I was a cashier at a small supermarket in the boonies. They played country music over the PA all day every day, and by the time a customer would get to me they got “Hello…blubber…how are you today?..sob, hic…Do you want paper or plastic?..sniff”
Pass me my EWAA card, please. Heck, I still remember sad things from my childhood that still make me weep. I skip over most of the sad threads not because I don’t care but because they tear me up inside. I only go in if it’s someone I know pretty well on the boards.
Me too for the EWAA club. I’m trying to get over sadness from my own mom’s and dogs’ deaths, and the best way for me to do it is to proactively think cheerful thoughts. These threads drag me right back to square one.
I also avoid the obituary section of the paper, though I sometimes accidentally start reading it, catch myself and flip forward to the comics to compensate.
That’s me exactly. I read it. I feel the emotions, lots of it. Sometimes I cry. But rarely post unless I really have something to offer (and I never do).
Yeah on the rare occasion that I do read one of those kind of threads I tend to not respond because I just feel lame saying “gosh, I’m really sorry” given the situation. I feel like there is nothing I can say that is helpful or meaningful enough to not sound lame.
