No one rattles me very easily. I am not naïve in the slightest. When I meet someone, I immediately start assessing them. What are they like? How will I think about them after this initial meeting, and am I being judgmental.
When I dislike someone after the first meeting, I try to rearrange my behavior towards them and give them a lot of chances. I keep changing my behavior and if nothing works, I'm done with them. I have their number and I don't look back. I don't ever just dislike someone without giving them a lot of chances. I know that being wrong about this is the most delightful thing I can experience. I love being wrong about someone I thought I would not like and that would be impossible if I did not give people a lot of chances. Just like, hopefully, they also give me in return.
I am still reeling from what I never anticipated and was totally thrown off balance about. And that is the election of Donald Trump. I have never been so surprised and shocked and sickened in my life. Maybe, when I found out my dad was going to die of pancreatic cancer. About the same feelings.
But usually I don't expect a lot from people and am pleasantly surprised when I learn I have a nice gift when I'm wrong.
I come from a really "mean" family and I had to have thick skin growing up or I wouldn't have survived. I can take quite a bit, but I can also dish it out pretty fiercely, at times. I try to keep that aspect of myself under control and have gotten better about it over time, but once and a while, I can unleash.
But yeah, there's little that's truly going to rattle me. Generally, I've got a pretty mellow disposition and tend to laugh at things that cause some people to come unglued. I'm pretty happy with that disposition. At least I believe it's better for my health, overall.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at May 25, 2019 12:52 PM MDT
I also come from a mean family but when they got mean with my kids I turned my back on them. Eventually I felt a little bad that my boys didn't have relatives so I cut out pictures of rock stars from LP jackets -framed them and hung them on the 33 - 1/3 relatives wall. I also wrote things on the photos like - the on with Tom Petty wearing a pair of Groucho glasses - Uncle Tom being silly. Cheers and happy weekend!
This post was edited by Nanoose at May 25, 2019 12:53 PM MDT
When I am incredulous at the stupidity of something I just heard or read, it takes a few seconds to evaluate the source of the utterance---at which time I usually realize it is consistent with other things that I have heard from the same source.
So unless I do not know who is likely to show up, I am usually prepared for what I might hear.
Benedict Arnold 