“Lighten up.”
When you say that, aren’t you assuming that I feel burdened?
What is it about my attitude that makes you think I feel burdened? I know, that’s not a fair question to ask. It’s really confrontational. People love talking about themselves (hey, I obviously do it all the time) but talking about the other person is hard.
How about “Get off my back.”? How about “Let he who is without sin…”?
I didn’t start out this morning angry, but I’m working up a good head of steam.
Maybe I should lighten up.
Significantly,
Susan Scot Fry
Update… Okay, that lasted about as long as it took for me to find the happy face picture and press Publish.
I tried to get a head of anger up, but failed miserably.
C’est la vie!
A Year of Significance 
Wow. Totally feeling the same way today — definitely wishing this was one of the (few) days available to me where I could choose to cloister myself. I am not fit for polite company. I hate being told to “lighten up” — it feels like an invalidation of whatever it is I am, apparently, feeling heavy about. Grrr. Mercury goes retrograde technically tomorrow — but, we’ve been feeling the effects of it since the 10th — and this has been one of the Mercury-retrogradiest-feeling retrogrades ever. Don’t usually let that kind of stuff faze me, but this time? This time, I am truly feeling like I could run, rabbit, run and go for cover and stay there. Hope your day improves. (Hope mine does, too).
~~ Carolyn
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Amen, Sister. Amen. Thanks, Carolyn.
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It’s hard to work up that steam when something flips your humor switch.
I have a friend who gets really stressed, but even more so if you tell her to calm down.
As I get older, I have to remind myself there are some things really worth getting worked up about, even if getting worked up itself is less attractive than it was.
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