Introvert Talks - Surrounded By Negativity

"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)

This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.

Hello again! I know it has been two weeks since my last self-talk session, so here I am.

The topic that I want to talk about is about negativity, and my thoughts about facing and perhaps dealing with it.

I don't have a big social circle and I usually go about my daily activities mostly alone. But recently, just by coincidence, I happened to have a few catch ups over meals with my friends, colleagues, and ex-colleagues, and naturally, we updated one another about what's going on in our lives. And one day, I was having my usual "me time" and reflecting over the past week, I realised there was actually a common theme about everyone's sharings, and that it was filled with negativity.

And the interesting thing is, these people aren't people that are filled with negativity about life. In fact, some of them are very good problem solvers and are very successful in their personal and work lives. So it made me wonder if people in the society or even in the world are facing similar stresses in life and maybe things are not so isolated after all.

Sharing #1: One friend shared that she just got to know one of her teammates resigned two days ago and the first thing that came to her mind was how the team would be shorthanded, at least for a few months until new hires, if any, come in. And it's stressful because bosses don't seem to know the severity of the manpower shortage given it's mostly just the two of them and she somehow has to taken over two persons' workload.

Sharing #2: Another friend shared she felt that her work performance has been affected because she went on maternity leave and being away from office for months, naturally it would be more challenging to meet the necessary KPIs.

Sharing #3: Another friend, who also complained about work, also shared some of his house troubles. There was a water leak from the unit upstairs and because he had wooden cabinets in the area, he had to remove all the wooden cabinets and reinstall new ones after fixing the leak issue. And it was so much work, first contacting the authorities to solve the leak, second looking for contractors for the carpentry changes, and of course, it was an unexpected expense item from his hard earned savings.

As much as I had my fair share of negativity and unhappiness to share as well, I thought these catch ups were very meaningful and interesting for me. It's not easy for people to present their vulnerable side to others and these friends actually trusted me enough to tell me their troubles. And if you know me, I don't really want to judge people because I will never know what they are going through as well. But I hope by lending one another our listening ears, these sessions were therapeutic and we all come away feeling a little better mentally. Sometimes, we just need an outlet and someone to listen to us, even if they can't offer any solutions.

Anyway, for me, I took a day off work today to de-stress, and spend some time with myself, engage in some hobbies (including writing posts on Hive!), went to the gym to get some exercise and sweat it out, and of course, treated myself some good food and finally, ending the day with my favourite Matcha drink. A good cup of Matcha latte always brightens up my day, at least temporary, hehe!

So that's all I have for my reflections this week. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this topic too!