hello . . .
My first post here . . . I've been lurking a little ...*smiles* and finally worked up the courage to actually post . . . *is still a little shy about communities and posting something that someone who has not actively added her to their friends list will actually have to read . . .*
But I've been backreading quite a bit, and as has been noted quite often before (probably to the point of irritation for the older members) the similiarity between myself and what I have often thought and/or posted, and the posts of the many members here, is quite staggering; especially having gotten used to being so completely and consistently misunderstood by all RL acquaintances ... It is amazing to think of so many other people out there that are so much like myself, in a society where it is so easy to become isolated and marginalized. . .
The posts about depression and meaning/purpose in one's job have especially struck chords - as I'm sure should not quite be surprising, either, but that I still find extraordinary. Does anyone here experience manic-depressive moodswings -- extraordinarily happy and perky one moment, and then the slightest of circumstances can plunge you into darkness that can take weeks to climb out of .. ? It is a disadvantage to feeling everything so much, one can become so easily unbalanced by all the wrong one comes across ... and there is just more and more of it as one grows up, and it is easy to retreat into an introverted shell away from it all, and never be able to face it. . .
And does anyone else have problems dealing with Extremely Extroverted People that get dreadfully offended when you just don't quite feel like dealing with mankind at the moment, and they take your terseness as a personal affront? It can get rather uncomfortable, especially when you're labeled as "snobbish" or something equally disdainful because of your reticence . . .