My friend Tom says he’s normal.
Seriously. Is it just me, or does everybody go through periods of — big fancy word alert — anhedonia? You know, those little stretches of a day or two or five when everything annoys you, when nothing seems fun, when people as a species just kinda piss you off?
Tom says, “These are generally days where I decide some quality time with inanimate objects is a good thing.” Amen, brother. Alone-time is a good thing. It’s a necessary thing. Deciding that the world can just piss off for a few days is, in my opinion, perfectly natural.
So either Tom’s normal, or we’re both screwed up in similar ways.
In any case, the neat thing about having friends like Tom is that you can say “Piss off for a few days” to them, and they get it.
Oh, would that all the days of my life could be filled with such honesty.
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I don’t suffer from anhedonia, but I’m a hardcore introvert, so I work “quality time with inanimate objects” into my schedule on a regular basis. And, as a result, I totally get that “piss off for a few days” thing.
Karen Demerly
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 9:59 am
“anhedonia”
ooo… cool new word!
No I don’t have it, but I think it’s perfectly normal. And I think its exacerbated for many who must live in urban areas. Too much rubbing with too many people … so I totally get the “piss off” bit.
We all have our own levels of “normal”.
Darleen
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 10:28 am
I think everyone has… something. Maybe it’s a few days of anhedonia, maybe it’s a tendency to take things too personally, maybe it’s poor stress-management abilities. I think it differs from person-to-person. But everyone’s got something, even the people who don’t want to admit it.
Tiff
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 10:41 am
Yep. Sound about right to me. If I recognize I’m on my way there I’m pretty good at mitigating the damage to my surroundings.
But yeah, if I’m getting grumpy, there’s no solution but to wait it out. It’s really all about knowing what’s up.
Mad William Flint
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 10:42 am
Actually just had a day like that on Sunday. A day of anhedonia followed by some sketching in a coffee shop with an animator friend helped me out. Maybe partially caffeine withdrawal induced? No idea… great choice on anhedonia though.
Jonathan
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 1:49 pm
Heh. This is the truest thing all day. I think, in this respect at the very least, you and Tom are both normal. My worst moods are brought on by people not understanding when I tell them I want to be alone. So either y’all are normal and so am I, or there’s a lot of similarly screwed-up people out there.
Kaya
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 4:28 pm
Afrigginmen. Right now I want to tell the whole world to shove it. Back off, world. Goal: enough money to buy my own island. No airstrip. Keep out.
Bruce
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, 6:35 pm