Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.

[traceroo]

Today on Facebook, an acquaintance of mine posted that he wants to start running. He talked a bit about some specific goals. It was a very positive, upbeat sort of status update. One of his followers responded with a comment that amounted to, "I wish I could run. My knee can't take the repeated stress." That comment annoyed me. It took my friend's

Comments

[mhaithaca]

I can sympathize, having been unemployed or minimally employed for six months, and having been single for way more Valentine's Days than not. :-) I do try not to say negative things in other people's space, with the exception of debunking things they wouldn't have posted if they'd checked Snopes first, for example. But I can think of a couple of times people have talked about running and I've chimed in, "I like my knees too much to run," and I can see the chirpiness might not have been welcome.

However, I also do think there's a lot of value to reaching out for support, and on any given day, there are plenty of counter-examples to your father's "cry alone" aphorism. Yes, there are people who are whining for the sake of whining, but being honest about what's going wrong is as reasonable as being honest about what's going right, as long as it doesn't come across as "Woe is me!"

[chimeramwe]

Many, many hugs for you Traceroo! There are times when some folks go a little insane on social media. The worst offenders I quietly unfriend. No drama, no announcement, and most have never noticed.

Some who are filling my pages with stupidity stay friended, but get unfollowed, and I check back in a bit and see if they're still having the stupids. If the stupids have passed, I will follow them again. If not, that's fine too. I also tend to avoid social media around election time. People who spout political rhetoric constantly without doing any research irritate the crap out of me :)

I think only one person had enough idiocy about them that I actually unfriended and blocked them.

[kumir_k9]

Wow, I haven't seen you around in so long I thought I had been unfriended. Good to see that is not the case.

If people are really your friends, they will be more than happy to listen to your thoughts on a given topic, even if those thoughts or feelings run counter to theirs. All of my friends are welcome to do that in my journal any time.

It's nice to see someone who is so self-aware about it that they consciously try to avoid it though. Slap me (gently) if you ever catch me doing it. I'd like to be that self-aware.

[embermwe]

Welcome back!
You were missed!
(and apparently I wasn't the only one!! :) )

I hear you SO loud and clear on this.

[silencebreaking]

SO loud and clear

Re: I hear you SO loud and clear on this.

[traceroo]

I'm sorry, sweetie -- I hear you, too, and you're right, that IS a sucky situation. I hate it when there aren't any clear, right answers.

The best I can counsel is, of course, to be completely honest with the boyfriend about your feelings. If he's the right one, then he'll want to be part of this decision with you, and supporting you no matter what -- even if it's not an easy choice for either of you.

Much love,
T.