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  • #25061

    Vaom
    Participant

    Because I find them boring. Every girl I come across who does this type of thing always seems to have this fake energy that is exhausting, and the comments that are made are frequently so hacky and generic (e.g.,”How many other girls did you tell this to?”) that there is no response I want to make other than a straight-forward answer such that we can move on to talking about anything else.

    In the rare event that I find myself trying to respond in kind, I immediately just cringe at my behaviour.

    I also get the impression that a lot of girls who do this don’t actually like having these types of conversations, but just do so out of formality.

    #24827

    Vaom
    Participant

    Yes, but I think too much. I think my problem is that I actually over-analyse my own behaviours and motivations to the point where I don’t do anything else.

    You might want something from her that you haven’t realized.

    Are you saying that the fact that I am asking that question to her is an indication that I am trying to get something from her?

    #24749

    Vaom
    Participant

    OK, great. I was just checking. I think it might have been Dan Savage (not sure though so hope I’m not misattributing this to him) who said something like this in some sort of panel thing a while back and I thought it was kind of ridiculous when he said it.

     

    #24738

    Vaom
    Participant

    So, from what you’ve written, it sounds like you desire to connect with people, and the way you’re attempting to get that is by talking about irrelevant information at any point where you happen to get into a conversation, dragging the conversation out as long as possible, even if it means boring the person you’re talking to.

    Yes, and/or exhausting them. I have some self-awareness about this now so I catch myself when I do this and stop it and just give the person the thing that caused them to start the conversation in the first place.

    Given the previous posts you’ve made on here about people not wanting to talk to you, it seems like it’s not working very well for you. Is that a correct assumption?

    Yes, if that is what’s happening.

    However, I just realized another problem is that I can’t tell when a girl has just asked a random question as an excuse to start a conversation (in which case talking about irrelevant information or dragging the conversation on may actually a good thing because they didn’t care about the question anyway). There has literally been only a handful of experiences in my entire life when a girl has been direct (i.e., asking if I have a girlfriend or for a date or for my phone number), so the remainder of the times I have to figure out whether I should just take their question or statement or whatever at face value or I shouldn’t because they have an ulterior motive for asking the question (i.e., because they’re interested).

    How do I tell the difference when a girl is literally just requiring some information from me or when they are just saying something as an excuse to start a conversation (where bringing up irrelevant information is actually a good thing)?

     

    #24227

    Vaom
    Participant

    No because I can’t stand flirting. I understand that other people enjoy it but it’s not my personality at all. Whenever a girl tries and gets “flirty” with me I just cringe.

    #23939

    Vaom
    Participant

    Why would they do this? Why are you so significant in their life that they would go out of their way to get in a conversation with you just to aggravate you?

    I think it could be because they’re doing it to gauge how I respond, or because they’re angry with me about something. I don’t really understand what is so perplexing about the latter because there are plenty of people who go out of their way to make other people angry. I’ve known people (including people who I’ve worked with) who are stupid enough to admit to me that they do this to other people. What I don’t understand is what it is I’m doing that is causing people to behave in this particular way to me out of nowhere when sometimes literally the day before we may have had a perfectly good conversation. What I also don’t understand is why they don’t seem to do this to anyone else. They’ll do this to me and then turn around and have a perfectly good conversation with some person two minutes later who is equally as shitty and unstable as they are.

    At the moment, you’re going through an experience, making a bunch of assumptions based on events in that experience, creating a story based on those assumptions, and then trying to solve the problem in the story based on those assumptions as well as getting angry at people based on your assumptions.

    There’s nothing in here based on fact. You don’t know why people are walking away from you.

    Yes, I agree that there is little based on fact here. I’m just going off instinct and incomplete information because I don’t think there’s any other way in which you can figure out what’s wrong. However, it seems to me that when dealing interpersonally with other people that a lot of the time when something about someone feels wrong then usually something is, and I’m getting really tired of giving people the benefit of the doubt because usually when I do that it doesn’t seem to end well. I’m not saying that I should always have a cynical attitude towards other people, but I’m saying when something feels off I’m more inclined to just go with what I’m feeling because it seems like going with that instinct usually gets me to a better place.

    Go and find out. Ask the question and keep asking it till you get an answer. If one person won’t give it to you, find another and ask them. And then ask someone else till you get an answer.

    I don’t bother doing this anymore (at least to unstable people, who are the only people who do the type of thing I’m talking about here) because these people are absolutely incapable of giving you an honest answer and will just endlessly gaslight and act like nothing is going on. They literally leave you no other option but to try and figure things out for yourself. Furthermore, if someone is trying to piss you off all you’re doing by asking them this is giving them what they want because as soon as you ask them that question they’ll know that they’ve successfully pissed you off, meaning that they will be even more likely to do that thing again in the future. (This is going back to the thing I said I was concerned about in the original post as it seems like confronting trolls about their behaviour that is bothering you is likely to lead them to do that thing to you again).

    Also, read this: https://lifeoperatingsystem.com/ownership/

    You need this.

    I’m confused about this. Isn’t “taking ownership” what I’ve been doing in regards to this? I’m trying to figure out what is causing this problem and what to do about it when the situation arises (e.g., just get to a place where it doesn’t affect me; try to figure out why it’s happening to make it easier to do something about it; lie to them and act like it’s not bothering me; stop talking to them at all and only talk to people whose company I enjoy, etc.).

     

    #23941

    Vaom
    Participant

    Also, Leigh, I think there might be a problem with the site because I tried responding in the other thread (about aggravators and boundaries) but every time I try and post it doesn’t seem to show in the thread.

    #23748

    Vaom
    Participant

    When I first posted I was thinking the things that bothers me most was people ordering me around, but I realized that there is something that bothers me even more that has been happening with a few people recently. What will happen is that someone (usually women, but a guy was doing this as well) will start to talk with me as though they are happy to have a conversation,  and out of nowhere they will start to give one-word responses, ignore what I am saying, or stare into space for a few seconds after I finish talking before saying nothing and turning around and going and doing something else when literally seconds before they seemed like they were engaged. A lot of the time they will keep repeatedly doing this within a half-hour period or something where they keep repeatedly initiating conversations and then cutting them off after going back and forth once or a few times.

    I presume they are doing this to aggravate me. I can’t really think of any other explanation and why this keeps happening because we were just having a normal conversation and I know I didn’t say anything strange, cringey, etc. At first I thought it was because I was boring them but then they go off and have a boring conversation with someone else, so I don’t think that’s the reason. I don’t care if people don’t want to talk to me but I don’t understand this behaviour where people keep repeatedly baiting you into a conversation just to cut it off.

    I think it grates on me for a few reasons. The main one is that I can’t understand why it’s happening and why they do it only to me and not other people. The other reason why it bothers me is because I get irritated at giving them the satisfaction of baiting me into a conversation and then making it look like I have been the one that has been rejected when they ignore what I said.

    I think the only way to deal with it is just to give one-word responses and not engage with the person at all when they try to start an interaction because it’s not like the conversation is going to go anywhere anyway. And also the better way to deal with it is to get to a place where I don’t care when someone is deliberately trying to piss me off and never wanted to talk to me in the first place, and to just find people who I genuinely enjoy the company of who don’t behave in this way anyway. I don’t think it matters if I just leave it because none of the people who do this are usually people I enjoy the company of that much anyway, and they are usually people who seem very unstable.

    So, what’s your plan? What are the things you care about and what’s your plan for overcoming them? Are you going to try and let them go or are you going to try and fix them?

    If the main way of dealing with things that bother me is to get to a place where they don’t bother me anymore, wouldn’t that mean that the way of fixing them is to let them go?

    Sorry if this was boring to read.

    #23738

    Vaom
    Participant

    If you stopped caring about the things they’re attacking you on, would you still need to lie? Would it matter what they said?

    Yes, I thought this was going to be what you were going to say and what the likely best response was. So I just need to get to the point where these things don’t irritate me. Thanks for the advice.

    #23737

    Vaom
    Participant

    I’d say you’re somewhat upset because you’ve posted in the forum, so faking until you make it is not the answer, you’ll have lost self respect which is essential to your growth and development. Furthermore, you don’t want to make this a habit. It will hurt all your relationships. No woman wants a doormat.

    You’re worried about the outcome. You’ll feel stronger if you confront the person.

    • I’ve done this on the job with an annoying woman who kept going after I asked her to stop. She even announced to others she was getting under my skin. I  gave her the silent treatment: checkmate. Then she complained that I talked to everyone but her.

    Hey man. I appreciate you trying to give me advice to help me out but you’ve kind of highlighted in this example exactly what I’m talking about. You said that this person was doing something that irritated you, and when you asked her to stop, she knew at that point that it irritated you and so kept trying to do it to aggravate you. At that point you had no recourse because once you ignored her she went around complaining to everyone about you. If all the other people sympathize more with her than they do with you then it can make your life a complete nightmare. This is exactly why I feel inclined to lie in situations like this because it seems like being honest just makes the situation a million times worse.

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