Today morning when I logged on to Facebook, I saw this status update on a friend’s wall:
“I am an open book…but what you know will depend on whether you got the actual copy or the abridged version, the pages you actually read, the way you interpret the words, how much you remember and what your frame of mind is while reading the book.” – Me. (Mysoul)
Bingo!
I can of course, use the above observation to explain a lot of what happens to me in life. Today I will confine it to the following:
I have had occasions when people tell me, ‘Cheer up!’ ‘Don’t be upset!’ etc when I am not in the least bit sad or depressed. They tell me “Chill!” when I am not feeling hot at all. They say ‘You must be feeling lonely!’ when I am fine with my own company. What takes the cake though is the times they tell me ‘Oh you are angry!’ when I am perfectly at peace.
If I don’t go for my customary walk on the day my son’s holidays gets over, “Oh you must not have gone for your walk because you are feeling sad that your son has left?!” Like, really?! You put up (what you think to be a) witty status update on Facebook, and get responses like, “Chill!” “Be cool!” When I want to do that I will switch on the a/c, thank you, not write status updates. If you talk about something that interests you enough to look for a plausible explanation or solution, “Don’t think too much!” Well, next thing you know they will be handing out measuring cups so that I can confine my thoughts to a fixed measure. And if you write what you think is a hilarious (sob sob) post making fun of elements of society, “Oh my! You are angry!” Give me a break. Don’t decorate me with the colors of your own feelings. I am perfectly fine with the way I am.
So, why do people superimpose their personal feelings on to me, define me with their own way-off-the-mark assumptions?!
I feel this happens when those with subjective opinions, and suffering from ADD, insist on trying to write a review of an unabridged book by lightly skimming through an abridged version, on a personally frustrating day.
Am I angry? Yes, a little. Who wouldn’t be, when the review sucks?!
Shail's Nest 
Ha ha ha…my true story ! Thanks for putting it down for me :-)) I just get so baffled at the misinterpretations, that I avoid writing my status messages…the biggest LOL for me is when I share a quote and people interpret it as a cryptic message to them, or as a road map to my inner feelings (that they think I ought to have;-) )
On retrospect, I am ready to pack my bags n move in with you ( to Neptune 😉
“I share a quote and people interpret it as a cryptic message to them, or as a road map to my inner feelings”
Another Bingo!
For me this happens in ‘real’ life and also on my blogs!
I wish they’d send our transport to Neptune soon 😉
🙂 Have seen this happen, and found it irritating.
It IS irritating 🙂
And people tell you “You have changed…you never used to say/do/think like this.” While I am thinking “Hello!!! I am alive…and the fundamental property of being alive is that you change as you learn. Duh!!”(that felt good to use the teenage expression of “Duh!”)
I loved that ‘Duh!’ That was the right choice of expression.
I don’t have a Facebook account.
Haven’t regretted it at all.
Friends have told me I am better off sticking to emails, on line forums and blogs.
They warned me Face book can become a nuisance and that many spend more time on Facebook than what’s good for them.
I have avoided Twitter too.
Regards
GV
I enjoy my Facebook account. It is not so bad as what people make it out to be. It is some people that are the problem and it happens in ‘real’ life, as also on blogs.
So true and it is often irritating…
Yes, it is so.
I havent logged in FB for almost 1.5 years..and honestly I dont miss it…RD is on it all the time but only reads…he likes his gossip that guy 🙂
I find FB statuses pretty baffling at times and with all honestly let me confess when I was addicted to facebook, I used to be very depressed looking at people’s happening lives..with millions of holidays, yaada yaada 🙂
Waise Chill okie 😉
I didn’t mean it to be something connected with only Facebook. Does my post give that impression? Hmm….
I have no such qualms. If people go for holidays, I simply enjoy watching their pictures 😛
It is such a lovely climate here 😉
yea.. I don’t like people telling me how I feel either.
They are my feelings and I am responsible for them and know them better than anyone else!!
I wonder why not many people get that! 😛 😀
Tell me about it!
You gave me ideas Shail. Now I’ll spend days/weeks thinking of something deliberately obscure to put up as a status, just for fun. Putting my thinking cap on 😛
Oh dear those ones! Thank God they are on the internet Shail. Can you imagine if all of them said fruity stuff to your face? Be thankful for small mercies… and take a leaf out of Ritu’s book. I will. She inspires me, that woman. 😀
Na,Dagny, you got it wrong. Some of the stuff written above has been said to my face! 😦
And the sayer lived to tell the tale?!!!
*wondering what I have unleashed* 😛
“Oh you’re now pissed off aren’t you? You need to relax more and let yourself breathe” LOL sorry couldn’t resist.
I don’t update status on FB at all, save for sharing a few songs and forwards and stuff like that. People always tend to read too much into everything and make their own assumptions. They are bound to. With smartphones attaches to their palms all the time, FB becomes second home to most. I’ve been planning to get out of there for sometime now. I just might.
Lol. I go out of my way to put up cheeky status updates 😛 But you know this post isn’t about FB alone, but how people generally are way off mark, assuming things about you depending on how they are feeling.
Quite often, it appears others know my feelings and thoughts better than I do! Also happens with weight gain/loss.
Earlier, I used to find it irritating. Now, it doesn’t bother me.
It is just the opposite for me. But then,my thoughts are not the usual either.:)
Absolutely 😀
So it’s cool there? I can’t even say ‘Chill’ 😛
Love that FB update you shared!
She has spoken for me many times. I simply loved this update of hers. 🙂 It struck an immediate chord 🙂
FB, my friend Shail, is a very interesting medium it brings out the most hilarious aspects of human behavior. Its like, keep a boy confined to a room and then expose his same routine to broadway or circus, the boy will change like there is no tomorrow. Moving on, your post is a great narration something called “judgement” 🙂
Richa
Well, I didn’t actually mean this about Facebook, but of people in general passing judgement on others based on their subjective feelings 🙂