Now I'm sad and incensed, now I'm happy and optimistic

SaintAnne, I honestly think that this is a defense mechanism. It happens to me frequently when I hear of something so horrible. I only heard on tv the headlines of this case and no nothing about it. Of course the first thing that comes to mind is that the child was being molested or that the child is unstable, I think that when we hear of these things are brain could go into overload so we blank it out in order to cope at that moment and then we gradually process the information in order to deal with it. You are not alone. a 9 month old baby was raped and killed in my country and I actually threw up in horror but then have had to deal with it. It is not that we are uncaring or unkind ot unaffected by this - it is just that our brain's cannot deal with it at the present time. God Bless

I most definitely find myself doing this SaintAnne and you and I have undertaken this very same thing together by going from the one serious topic to the new interest topic that was totally wacky the very next minute! It certainly can be a case of having to wear many hats on here and if anything, I welcome the fact that we are able to do this. Human nature is fickle and our moods can vary considerably. At least here on mylot we can seek topics that suit our particular mindset at any time and may also use one topic to help us feel better about another as well!

It is not easily to turn off that emotional switch. In mylot because of the nature of interactions and the presence of friends we seem to be able to put across our views and then move on to another discussion. But if you pay close attention the frame of mind responding to the next discussion would not be the same if you had done it in the reverse order. But how effectively are we able to do this on day to day situations that we experience around us ?

i get affected on almost anything and can get very sensitive about things...no, most of the time i get stuck with what i had read first and find myself answering the same topics till i get tired for the moment here in mylot..well not only in mylot but in my actual life as well...

I stay away from those kinds of discussions, so no, I do not have to deal with that.

We must continue on with our lives. However, we cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to the bad things that go on in this world. We must strike a balance. We must be compassionate, functional human beings; otherwise, we risk becoming unable to effect change because we are either too deep in despair or too callous.

i suffer from these mood swings often.my attritubutes this to my pms.boy,he sure knows how to get me irritated.

The switching from one state of mind to another doesn't come naturally. and i am sure it's difficult for most when faced with a bizarre and rare incidents. But today, we are so much exposed to such things that it's easier now. The media with its incessant dig never ceases to come up with such breaking news. and somewhere I feel the frequency of occurrence makes us take it in our stride. the positive thin being we are much more strong now but the negative side we are getting thick skinned! Having said ths, the real test would if and when such incidents occur in close proximity with known people. Keeping my fingers crossed for myself and all others..

its true. in every case the emotion can switch from one state to another. in my case also its true. I am about to answer the same discussion. its true its really sad for 8 yr old.

Yes this happens to me as well. Sometimes I go and make a cup of coffee to clear my mind. I think we cannot stay upset or we would fail to function. If it was something we do something about we would go out and do it but online you are powerless, the same as seeing something on TV so you have to find a way to tune out to avoid getting too upset. Sometimes I find I cannot just move on to another discussion as I cannot clear my head and when that happens I go and do something else until my head clears and I can move on.

Yeah, I think we all do this. On one hand we feel sad for or upset about something we have read, but on the other hand we want to get on with our earning. When we read about these terrible circumstances there is nothing we can really do about them, it might make us feel bad, but they don't directly affect us, so at some point we have to movie on with our lives. It does not mean we are not sensitive, but we can not be extremely affected by everything bad we hear about in life. If we did we would be a completely disfunctional society.

Hello SaintAnne! Yeah, this happens to me sometimes..I got carried away by the heaviness of the situation in a particular discussion and feel the opposite towards other discussion. It's an odd feeling, really.

Hehehe yes it happens a lot. My emotions differ every discussion I read and respond to but like you, I don't get my feelings stuck on one discussion alone. I think it is good in such a way that we don't get distracted and we have no mood swings whenever we mylot. We don't let discussions affect us too much so that we can continue to respond to others discussions still. Ciao!

Hi SaintAnne, You seem to switch your moods according to discussion, of course i am too like that! Because nothing is going to happen when we are sad, better be happy and optimistic to create a lovely environment around us Cheers and regards, forcashksd

Well I guess that is what your supposed to be when you are here at Mylot. Since Mylot discusses a wide variety of discussions then you should also be versatile in commenting and making your ideas up. Although there are those post that may affect your feelings but that should not dictates what your life for the day should be. Life is varied for us to be focused on just one kind of emotion.

Hi anne, Yes unfortunately I do know what you mean. We are only human and can only do so much. We can feel upset and outraged but for how long are we supposed to dwell on it? I know that the particular story is absolutely unbelievable and upsetting but what is it that we can do? Can we help this boy? The damage is done! What can we do except make our comments and move on? There is nothing that we can say or do that will change what happened or what will happen to this boy. It is sad but true. So since we are human, we have to do the next best thing and move on with our lives and in this case it means move on to the next discussion. So I don't think that we are doing anything wrong. We can still feel badly, but there is no point on dwelling on something that we can't do anything about.

I think that it is a coping mechanism. I felt the same way after discussing this same story with my sister. I hung up the phone and went from upset and sick back to mommy mode playing peek a boo with the clean laundry... What other choice do we have?