a 26 year teenage existential dilemma…
Michael
typically atypical...
Homepage: http://www.michaelmallon.net
Jabber/GTalk: s0niqu3@gmail.com
AIM: s0niqu3
Posts by Michael
right all along
Jun 26th
So after a fairly emotional night (26 years of psychological drama can make one emotionally exhausted every now and again) it turns out that, yeah, basically I’ve been right all along (uhm, of course, I know me better than anyone else does), and my friends (and I think probably my family too) do indeed have a totally wrong frame of reference by which they view and understand me.
I guess its not really wrong for them to have an incorrect frame of reference either, because I’ve not really been helping anyone to truly know me. Yet it still causes problems, because turns out I’m also right that people have been inferring some seriously wrong conclusions/issues/worries about me, and its all because they don’t have the right frame of reference with which to view/understand me, and I’m apparently vague enough about everything, that its not something anyone is likely to simply infer.
So, where do I go from here? How can I convince people that I’m honestly ‘ok’ when they won’t really believe it until their frame of reference for me changes?
randomness
Jun 23rd
I had a rather wonderful thought earlier, that I almost wish I could be a fly on the wall when people finally realize their frame of reference by which they view me is totally wrong, I’d love to see their raw, un-edited emotions first hand.
I think that some of my friends from lotro actually have the right frame of reference, though I highly doubt anyone in real life does, lets face it, real life is always harder since its not nearly so anonymous.
Oh, and I decided to re-do my wishlist, scale it back, just photo gear for now, though maybe I’ll add fancy journals and fountain pens and whatnot if I really get back into writing, which I kind of feel like I might, though I definitely want to get back into photography too.
hinting much?
Jun 23rd
Just thought I’d post a couple of snippets from recent comments and emails from friends & family.
From my cousin today:
And, you’re a good writer — that’s not a compliment, just an observation
I always said you’d make a good English major, should life send you back to school someday, and I stand by that!
And from a friend a few weeks back:
I won’t give you any compliments about your self, as I would be wasting my words because you don’t believe a positive word any one says, but you are a good, solid writer. Your words are lyrical, a hard thing to accomplish for most. Keep writing.
wonderful poem
Jun 21st
I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us –don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
Emily Dickenson
obscurity
Jun 20th
I’ve been thinking over and over for quite a while now about comments some of my friends have made, specifically about my attitude post-navy experience.
I don’t really know, but I think maybe my friends and family think the navy experience ‘taught’ me that I’m a failure, they want to blame my negative self-image on the navy experience, but that’s not really true. I’ve always thought that I’m a failure, even before joining the navy, and the navy helped me realize why that is, and that I’m not altogether wrong in thinking so poorly of myself.
I also think that maybe my friends and family think I didn’t learn anything positive or helpful from the experience, but that’s also not true, just that it was so unexpected that I haven’t come to terms with it enough yet to share it, and on top of that, it brought to surface a vast multitude of psychological issues that I’ve been doing my best to repress for a long time.
I really wish it were easier to explain, or that I were confident enough to be able to just list all my issues, and how they’ve effected my life, and continue to effect my life everyday, but I’m not, so for now, people just need to know that I learned what I needed to learn from my experience in the Navy, and that I’m hoping I’m strong enough to eventually move forward, even though I know I’ve got a long path ahead of me, and that life will probably get even worse for me before it gets truly better.
I hate being obscure, but for now, its the best I can do.