Mirror mirror on the wall...
Oh never mind, I can still see myself from down the hall.
Yesterday I was reminded of something I had originally noticed a very long time ago. Wait, I need a do-over: ...I had originally noticed a very long time ago.
That's better.
Emotionally I can be...like a mirror. Or a sponge...why don't we just make a mirror-sponge? I'm getting ahead of myself here.
I noticed when I was...oh, I don't know, a kid? A teen maybe? A youth at any rate, that my emotions tended to be very...intense.
Anger was the one feeling I seemed to feel most strongly.
I remember times when I would be...you know, whatever, doing my thing and feeling my feels when someone else would come along and do something (quite possibly my mother to argue with or yell at my father) to intrude on my space and my mood and often times this resulted in me mirroring or also absorbing their emotional state.
It wasn't always brought on by completely obvious things.
Like one of the girls I worked with at the theater one night who I realized was upset despite her trying to hide it even though nobody else seemed to realize it. I adapted accordingly, very aware of the emotional...mm, state? Vibe? Vibe sounds a bit...not quite right because it never struck me as a sense or like a gut feeling. Those would be something else.
I find this happens on the phone at work too. Not always and I'm not always so aware (Hey, nobody's perfect.) of where things are going emotionally but I'll often pick up on these things and I may have started in a more peaceful and calm mood but Mr. or Miss Customer Person will send things flying, quite frustratingly at times, in the opposite direction because they are calling first thing in the morning frustrated, or angry, or whatever. It's not always so negative but those moods stick with me more than any of the others because if it goes in the other direction and is positive there's no harm done. Yay for a smile or a laugh.
It challenges me because if they were in some kind of unpleasant mood I can't just drop it as soon as the call is over. I hate that about it. It also brings my mood down and I don't want that. I would have preferred to maintain my state at peace but...no.
Counter to all the tales of INTJs being emotionless robots that's an overstated less than half truth. Unfortunately some people seem to be proud of this and perpetuate the idea or maybe they refuse to grow. We do have them but we might not put them on display all the time because nobody said you had to show them for the world to see. Which is why when someone tells me to smile I'm more likely to glare at them instead. They might have meant well but it doesn't come across that way. It comes across as bossy and what right do you have to tell me what to do? This is starting to veer away from my point.
I don't think I have anything more on that for tonight.
So off to sleep. Hopefully soon.
Yesterday I was reminded of something I had originally noticed a very long time ago. Wait, I need a do-over: ...I had originally noticed a very long time ago.
That's better.
Emotionally I can be...like a mirror. Or a sponge...why don't we just make a mirror-sponge? I'm getting ahead of myself here.
I noticed when I was...oh, I don't know, a kid? A teen maybe? A youth at any rate, that my emotions tended to be very...intense.
Anger was the one feeling I seemed to feel most strongly.
I remember times when I would be...you know, whatever, doing my thing and feeling my feels when someone else would come along and do something (quite possibly my mother to argue with or yell at my father) to intrude on my space and my mood and often times this resulted in me mirroring or also absorbing their emotional state.
It wasn't always brought on by completely obvious things.
Like one of the girls I worked with at the theater one night who I realized was upset despite her trying to hide it even though nobody else seemed to realize it. I adapted accordingly, very aware of the emotional...mm, state? Vibe? Vibe sounds a bit...not quite right because it never struck me as a sense or like a gut feeling. Those would be something else.
I find this happens on the phone at work too. Not always and I'm not always so aware (Hey, nobody's perfect.) of where things are going emotionally but I'll often pick up on these things and I may have started in a more peaceful and calm mood but Mr. or Miss Customer Person will send things flying, quite frustratingly at times, in the opposite direction because they are calling first thing in the morning frustrated, or angry, or whatever. It's not always so negative but those moods stick with me more than any of the others because if it goes in the other direction and is positive there's no harm done. Yay for a smile or a laugh.
It challenges me because if they were in some kind of unpleasant mood I can't just drop it as soon as the call is over. I hate that about it. It also brings my mood down and I don't want that. I would have preferred to maintain my state at peace but...no.
Counter to all the tales of INTJs being emotionless robots that's an overstated less than half truth. Unfortunately some people seem to be proud of this and perpetuate the idea or maybe they refuse to grow. We do have them but we might not put them on display all the time because nobody said you had to show them for the world to see. Which is why when someone tells me to smile I'm more likely to glare at them instead. They might have meant well but it doesn't come across that way. It comes across as bossy and what right do you have to tell me what to do? This is starting to veer away from my point.
I don't think I have anything more on that for tonight.
So off to sleep. Hopefully soon.