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Some people are moody, i.e. emotionally unstable, so it's just a coin toss as to what kind of interaction you're going to have with them. Dealing with them suc

Some people are moody, i.e. emotionally unstable, so it's just a coin toss as to what kind of interaction you're going to have with them. Dealing with them successfully involves a tedious routine of 'taking their temperature'. It's really more pleasant to deal with a consistently grouchy person than a bipolar type, as you always know what to expect. The truly manipulative sociopathic type is rarer but they're the ones who behave that way deliberately in an effort to control others, keep them off balance, influence their behavior and so on. A classic example is the 'secret-gatherer' whose friendly outreaches are designed to gather compromising information which can be leaked at some opportune moment, aka 'the blackmailer'. Thankfully most people aren't like this, but identifying the ones who are and avoiding them like the plague is a valuable life skill.

twelve40 3y ago
yup that's what complicates things as to simply "avoid ambiguous friendships". I've had the best times and experiences with pretty volatile people (the first kind you mentioned). It's a lot of work on my side to put up with the mood swings but I feel like it's still a net positive, though it surely would be less stress to hang out with someone calmer.
CommanderData 3y ago
I agree with your second paragraph. But are there not moody people i.e. emotionally unstable types in all of us. People, myself included go through troubling periods in life and can cause them to be less emotionally aware of themselves. Sometimes we're closer to this reality than we imagine. Should we not have a degree of tolerance towards this and even chronic cases because some people's lives a just severely fudged up sometimes i.e. Health reasons outside of their control. I wish I was 18 again without the worry of the worries I have today, carefree almost 100% of the time but life attaches it's baggage on all of us and it's to be expected that some people will be down, can't expect people to be the reproducible version emotionally every time.

twelve40 3y ago

yup that's what complicates things as to simply "avoid ambiguous friendships". I've had the best times and experiences with pretty volatile people (the first kind you mentioned). It's a lot of work on my side to put up with the mood swings but I feel like it's still a net positive, though it surely would be less stress to hang out with someone calmer.

CommanderData 3y ago

I agree with your second paragraph. But are there not moody people i.e. emotionally unstable types in all of us. People, myself included go through troubling periods in life and can cause them to be less emotionally aware of themselves. Sometimes we're closer to this reality than we imagine. Should we not have a degree of tolerance towards this and even chronic cases because some people's lives a just severely fudged up sometimes i.e. Health reasons outside of their control. I wish I was 18 again without the worry of the worries I have today, carefree almost 100% of the time but life attaches it's baggage on all of us and it's to be expected that some people will be down, can't expect people to be the reproducible version emotionally every time.