[Lumpy]

PLEASE NOTE EDIT AT BOTTOM OF THIS POST

Here's my story ... just wondered how other folks handle this on a regular basis.

It's pretty standard knowledge that people (and other critters) put out energies of various sorts, depending on their state of being.

That's why anxiety, depression, hysteria are all 'contagious', and the 'contact high' at a good concert happens. The list goes on -- you get the idea.

If one is an empath, a sensitive, or just particularly tuned in (you can call it what you like -- and you probably have mixed feelings about it, if you are blessed/cursed with this gift), one is more subject to sensing (even at an unconcious level) and experiencing the effects of (usually at a more concious level) growing anguish, anxiety, etc - such as is manifesting all around us right now.

I have "the gift" - there is a long line of us in my family through my mother's side. It helps me tremendously in my practice of psychiatry, but also leaves me subject to exhaustion & pain that comes from experiencing other people's "stuff".

So, in view of this fact, I am posting this poll today, and going to watch it. Then my husband (he's a sensitive, too - although he does not think he is to the same degree that I am) and I have agreed to stay off the boards for the rest of the week.

It's my birthday on the 18th, and we want to be able to enjoy the day without being so weighed down with all this. We are hopeful that taking a hiatus will help me be more psychologically rested (and thus feeling better physically) & do the same for him.

(Even if I stay off the boards, and he goes on, I 'catch' the impact of scary, difficult stuff from him -- even if he doesn't say a word about it. Thus the importance of the experiment of both of us staying away.)

Eager to hear your thoughts/practices.

Lumpy

EDIT: NEVER MIND OUR EXPERIMENT ... he couldn't or decided not to stay away from this place ... so I'm still "catching the wave."

[Carlhole]

The bias towards the Doomside here on PO.com gets to be ridiculous.

The peak oil debate and the larger issues of energy, resources, population, technology, etc. are all very interesting subjects. But the doom mentality dumbs it all down to a juvenile apocalyptic fantasy trip.

PeakOil.com seems to distill out those who yearn to see their vision of ruination come to pass. They cannot tolerate any competing visions - such as those that imagine a world that has adapted and compensated.

I don't see the Doomers as depressing; I see them as tiresome and limited.

[wisconsin_cur]

Real life has taken me away for a few days at a time before but I have never felt the need to get away for a few days.

Perhaps if I do need a break someone will tell me?

[Pops]

As to the main question, I have taken months at a time off. Sometimes just because I was talking more than doing and sometimes due to disagreements in the back room over site policies and sometimes because, like Carl said, The Conspiracy of Doom Cheerleaders make posting anything here either relatively optimistic or usable sometimes seems like pissing in the ocean.

As to being "Sensitive", my mom thought she could absorb sickness from others. While I don't think in those terms, I do seem to be able to push my emotions to my gut and stay in my head at times of stress; whether it's a medical emergency, confrontation (IRL or otherwise) or some other event where others seem to give in to emotion. Probably because there were periods in my childhood where it was necessary.

My mom was the same way and the reason I think she believed she "absorbed" others pain is because the stuff you push down during the "crisis" comes back twice as hard later.


Whoa, way too deep for 12:30p...

[Ludi]

Yes, when I find myself dwelling too much on what people are saying here and when I find myself getting in fights with people here.

[RedStateGreen]

I take breaks from here as needed, but never more than five days ...

[Cornelian]

I take time out regularly, and rarely post. I read peakoil.com and LATOC often.

If i take time out it has nothing to do with depression or 'sensitivity' or whatever regarding the state of affairs - let's just call it doom in general. I just find that these two forums particularly (LATOC far more) attract some very ugly personalities and attitudes and there is only so much ugliness I can stand in my life. So I leave for a while.

There are other forums I visit every day and post on every day and have for months and which cover the same topics as peakoil and LATOC, but they have no 'ugliness factor' so I don't ever need to take time out from them.

[CarlinsDarlin]

I do take time off when it gets to be too much. I have taken a few days or weeks at a time, and from late 2005 to late 2007 I doubt I made a total of 3 posts. My absence came shortly after I lost my father, and once I was away, I found that I had enough stress in real life without adding more to it from here. I had a lot going on at home then, and I didn't need the added stress of "doom in capital letters" to add to it by spending a lot of time here.

I did check in from time to time, but I didn't make a regular habit of being around until Pops contacted me off the boards just to see if I was still kickin'

Life was at a better place then, and I could afford to balance the doom a bit better, so I came back. I'm still not nearly as active as I was back then, though.

Re: being a sensitive. I am also one. The gift (or curse, however you look at it) comes through my father's side of the family. I do pick up on both positive and negatives, but negatives for me are far stronger and it takes effort to balance it. Generally whenever I have a sense of something coming, it's almost always negative, which is why I wonder if it's a curse instead of a gift. But then again, forewarned is forearmed.
K

[criticalmass]

The topics here scare the hell out of my girlfriend. She needs a break from it every so often, still in the beginning stages of understanding so I take some "stop talking and start doing something" days to give her a break as much as myself.

There's too much going on here that proves to be just as prophetic as it sounds. It's easy to say "I told you so" over and over, but harder to be compassionate to those who have been trained not to understand. The days off tend to be better for letting people down a little more gently and making some progress with the more stubborn.

[mystiek]

No, I don't have to take a break for the above reasons. If there is a break, its usually because I'm busy (being on call at the hospital), canning, chasing after kids, dogs, horses and husband. There are some people that it is tempting to get in a fight with, but I just shake my head (roll the eyes-my kids are good at that) and find something else to read. I look at some of the more irritating posts more for "entertainment" purposes, but on the otherhand I feel sorry for some of these "entertaining posters"-definitely some anger issues and paranoia...

[Tanada]

I took a couple months off earlier this year when my personal life plus this place exceeded my doom capacity, I turned this place off because I had to preserve my energy for my physical life.

Looking back over the time I missed it doesn't seem like I missed much, and if the place doesn't recover after the US election I will be taking another shorter break to clear my head.