in my experience
Just thinking about an interaction today. It’s pretty interesting how I tell the average person (especially males) a story where i’m the victim and they immediately intensely victim blame me.
This is probably largely due to rock bottom low positive sentiment of the person directed towards me. I don’t know why i talk to some of people i talk to. At least when i think about it. I’m pretty sure i have higher standard for which internet acquaintances i talk to regularly then irl acquaintances. If it’s an internet interaction, if i establish they’re uhh unsuitable i don’t talk to them anymore, and maybe i should do that irl for acquintances?
Obv if you vets someone as being good company, they don’t victim blame you.
Just want to say sorry that you’re experiencing this. It sounds pretty invalidating and traumatizing. I hope you can find a better set of individuals to share these experiences with 😞
I’m going to make an assumption here, but are the people you are talking to men? Men are socialized to present solutions to problems, rather than socialized on how to help others process a complex emotional event, and will often default to giving advice when told about any negative life event. While I don’t mean to excuse their behavior by any means, it may help to explain some patterns you’ve participated in.
I’ve only tried twice so far specifically telling the person I’m speaking to not give me advice. Didn’t work both times - I think their word vomit is too strong for them to hold back.
One of them I’ve told twice too. Didn’t work the second time either. Now when we’re talking, I just don’t complain to her
You’re good at this! Someone once told me not to talk to them as much like this bc it was too therapyish for them. Since then I try to roughly paraphrase what they’re saying and like throw in a dumb joke. (Ex someone’s telling me how they got fired, i summarize how they got fired and say like “another day in paradise”. Which usually at least gets a slight smile) I’ve never known how well received my approach is, but no obvious negative reviews. I’m unsure if the joke at the end is too abrupt change of tone or something? What do you think about this kind of approach?
Mostly. I read about this too. I don’t know as many women and the ones I do tend to be at least somewhat tomboyish and they do the same thing lol.
Also I’ve been thinking, when people tell me about some bad story that happened to them, I’ve been wondering if I should straight up ask “do you want me to give you dumb obvious advice?” But I don’t want them to feel like “sir this is a Wendy’s” (which is also funny bc a Wendy’s cashier was complaining about her position to me in Wendy’s lmao)
Restating what someone said to let them know that you were listening is a tried and true technique. Levity can definitely help land a tough topic. I see no issues with your approach, although if someone’s looking for a deeper connection they might appreciate less levity? Hard to say, depends on the person.
I think it’s reasonable to ask if they’re looking for help and if so, what kind of help they’re looking for. Most of the time I assume people are looking for somewhere to emotionally vent and be seen, because when people are looking for help they usually ask… but it depends on the person. Some people find it very hard to ask, but are very willing to accept help when it’s offered. Knowing your crowd is the true key. If you don’t know the person talking to you yet, it just means you should ask questions about how they like to interact and what they’re looking for when offering up this kind of information. Eventually you’ll learn what they’re looking for.
True! Forgot about this.
Good suggestions!