Emotional branding
The whiner: The other day I was talking to someone about a bunch of stuff I had to do in this coming week, which was why I couldn’t see her for dinner, and she said to quit whining. Well, now. I can get on a whining tear if you give me room to run with it. Whining sucks – but I have difficulty setting boundaries and just saying no, so inevitably I find myself offering up all the reasons why instead of just saying no – which in effect does indeed sound like whining – or is this whining?
The anxious one: This morning, a friend called me up and said she has been having a lot of anxiety lately and was going to get her blood checked because she thinks it is hormonal – and I said whoa, tell me about it. Look at all the reasons you would feel anxious I told her – business stress, relationship stress, world stress. Who wouldn’t be stressed?
The game face: Another friend sent me an email saying she is trying to cope with everything that is happening in her life – which is a lot – but she, I already know this about her, won’t whine or complain, instead she always puts a good face forward and she does heroic deeds every day. She needs a break.
The doubter: A friend called me and said he was feeling a little awkward around a woman he was hoping to ask out. He said he felt like he was groveling in just trying to communicate he wanted to go out with her after a going out mix up. I said all I know is women of all stripes like confident men – doesn’t matter what type of man – as long as they are confident. A deal breaker is the man who is too shy to ask you out, too scared he might be bothering you, too unsure of himself to pursue you. I gave him my confidence builder trick that I use – “hey, I’ve been rejected by better ones than you.”
The worrier: My mother called and said she is worried about not working. Let’s recall she worried when she was working. She just worries. She worries about things that might never happen, about things that happened thirty years ago, and she worries about worrying. All of that worry to me feels like a bunch of worms in your stomach vying to get out. Yuck, in other words.