Are you overly emotional?
I get overly emotional about some things but not others. For example, I get upset if someone I don't like comes over to the house, if anyone uses my computer, or if I'm out running errands with my parents and we don't do exactly what they said we were going to do (ex: if they said we're going to the store, but in addition to that, we wound up also making stops at the cigarette store and the gas station). I also get very upset if someone says bad things about my favorite fictional characters or movies.
I don't want to be labeled as a "drama queen", so I try my best to hide how much things like that actually bother me.
On the other hand, most of the time things that upset other people like someone dying or natural disasters don't bother me very much. On a less severe scale, I don't really feel sad over bad things happening to people I know, such as my brother having a bad day at school or my friend breaking up with her boyfriend.
I don't want to come across as being callous or uncaring, so I pretend to be saddened by these things.
I don't want to come across as being callous or uncaring, so I pretend to be saddened by these things.
Do other people really feel saddened by these things or are they just better at pretending?
I don't want to come across as being callous or uncaring, so I pretend to be saddened by these things.
Do other people really feel saddened by these things or are they just better at pretending?
Good question. I wish I knew the answer.
Ashellin
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 27
Location: Lost... Oh wait, Scotland
I can be deeply moved by a beautiful piece of art or music, or by a character in a book, but it's harder to feel anything if say, two people that I know have broken up, the neighbour's dog dies, etc.
I have wondered before if it could be because art or a song or a character in a book don't require picking up on all of these social cues that I have trouble seeing or understanding. It's like a direct line from the artist's brain to mine, bypassing the need to express feelings through expressions or gestures. I don't have to guess what this or that character is thinking; it's written right there, in words I can understand and sympathise with. If someone pours their sadness into their music I can hear it and understand it there, and feel some small part of it with them. I'll cry at movies a lot too, even if a similar situation in real life wouldn't get as much of a response. Probably because in a film there's music and lighting and all sorts of things working together to convey the feelings it's meant to bring out in the viewer. Maybe that's why I like fiction so much.
The only time I get what I would call unusually or overly emotional is related to fear. I don't mean the scary-movie, makes-you-jump kind of fear, but the kind of horrible fear I used to have when I was in high school and I was walking down the corridor waiting for the bullies to appear. The kind of fear where you just want to run away into a little dark room with a big lock on the door and hide away. Even thinking or talking about it brings on the same response as actually being there - I'll start to cry. It feels utterly silly, because it's been years, and I logically know that it should not affect me, but still it happens.
I remember when I was in elementary school and I had just bought a book from the fair. I rushed home to read it. When I got home I decided that I was going to rip the barcode off the back before I read, well I ripped but only half of it tore off. For some reason this upset me deeply, to the point of me praying to try to fix it....I never read the book after that.
Thats pretty overly emotional
pretty lame when I think back to it...
happymusic
Veteran
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,165
Location: still in ninja land
Hmmm, I guess it's like trying to describe how something tastes to someone, or what the color blue looks like. It seems like people don't have any control over happy crying.
Wow, I've never heard of Stendahl's Syndrome. I didn't know people could be wired that way. So when the tears come from experiencing something beautiful, is it accompanied by intense emotion or is it like sneezing, where it just happens sort of on its own? Like when I cry it's because there's so much frustration or something and it comes in waves of intensity, along with the actual crying itself.
Hmmm, I guess it's like trying to describe how something tastes to someone, or what the color blue looks like. It seems like people don't have any control over happy crying.
Wow, I've never heard of Stendahl's Syndrome. I didn't know people could be wired that way. So when the tears come from experiencing something beautiful, is it accompanied by intense emotion or is it like sneezing, where it just happens sort of on its own? Like when I cry it's because there's so much frustration or something and it comes in waves of intensity, along with the actual crying itself.
I don't know about Stendahl's Syndrome, but when I experience emotion from beauty it's a physical sensation of cold water flowing down the back of my neck into my spine. I can't recall I time I've really started bawling but I have felt misty-eyed while being mesmerized by the experience of beauty and by imagination I can extrapolate that experience to the experience of actually crying.
Aspieallien
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 8 Jul 2009
Age: 52
Gender: Male
Posts: 190
Location: NSW, Australia
I am also a highly sensetive person, I over react a lot and take thing to heat that other people shrug off. Having an almost photographic long term memory means I can remember so vividly much of my early childhood. So I tend to get very emotional about childhood memorys of happy times with the family. Looking at old photos can make me emotional too. I also get emotional and actualy weep when listening to some clasical music, particularly violin. It seems like the whole range of the composers emotions goes right through my sole and I actualy feel the music.
_________________
Reality is wrong,
Dreams are for real.
yes, I'm very easily moved, can't can't watch many Tv shows, movies etc as a result!!
Hi again Aspieallien!
Similar with my childhood( even though I haven't quite left it yet, so early childhood). there was period when I had this relapse when I kept on remembering family events of happy times almost like a video recorder in my head. And it made me so sad, just wishing I could become part of that life again, because it was all so happy! Growing up has been one of the most emotionally moving things for me.
