i do not always succeed. i try always to be kind and generous, to be amusing when i need to be and serious when i need to be, to give others the benefit of the doubt, to not hold grudges, to be a good listener, and to be a good friend.
for the most part, i am successful
except
i talk too much. always have. hope not “always will” though.
i share things about myself with people who don’t need to know, or don’t care.
i tell people on craigslist my whole life story when i just mean to say why 3:00pm is not a good time for a pick-up.
worst of all, i gossip. not even to be bitchy (usually) but just because if i know something, or something is on my mind, i HAVE to say it when the opportunity arises. i don’t really get it. i have a job where i have to be good at confidentiality, and at work i am. but in my personal life, i have no discretion whatsoever, and usually realize it just a minute too late. it probably makes me seem like a bitch or a not nice person, but i am really not either. it is hard to explain, but i like most people. even people i don’t like certian things about, or like to gossip about since there is just so much to say…i still like them. there are very few people I actually don’t like, or would ever want to hurt, even if i know i could hurt them by talking about them. i don’t even like to hurt people that i truly don’t like. i am just not mean, even though i know i sound mean. it is a problem, and probably part of the reason i don’t have as mnay friends as i’d like. that and that i have a huge fear of rejection that makes it very hard for me to reach out and ask people, even people close to me, to get together. i am always sure they’ll have something better to do or someone they’ed rather be with, so i never ask…and then i become “the friend that never asks”, and then we aren’t friends anymore.
there are, of course, a few exceptions to this. there are things i have managed to keep to myself, not even share with my husband, for years. not many of them, but a few big ones that i just always knew were not things to be ever considered idle gossip and that had to stay in the vault. there are also a few people in my life i do trust and do call and do reach out to, and these people i do not gossip or talk about, i do have some limits that i can keep. usually. but sometimes i start talking, and just cannot stop. even as i am telling myself “stop”.
so, today i learned 3 things:
1) i have to learn to get this habit under control. otherwise i could hurt people i do not want to hurt.
2) my best friend is better person than i am. i hope i can learn to be more like her.
3) 35 year olds sometimes still need to grow up.



















