I try to be a pleasant, congenial person with a smile on my face, even when I don’t feel it. Sometimes, though, I find it difficult to keep up an affable façade when I’m not really feeling it. Usually, the irritability I can’t hide is because of not feeling well. For the past week, my migraines have been a bit worse than usual. I’m not for sure if it’s the seemingly ever changing weather or wildfire smoke passing over Vermont. Since Sunday, our air quality has been worsening.
Then again, my irritability may be because I’m just fed up with hearing people complain. Some people are going to constantly complain and nothing will satisfy them. This is especially true when a person is a martyr narcissist, i.e., a person who constantly acts as if their every action is a personal sacrifice. People like this don’t want their complaints satisfied because they can’t keep receiving the sympathy they crave. Then, there are those people who are just miserable human beings who want others to suffer the way they do, even when they aren’t actually suffering.
Also, politics in the United States right now are fucking annoying, and if I watch even ten minutes of the news, I can’t get away from it fast enough. Why can’t politicians be positive in their campaigning instead of always negative? I think partly because anger drives people to vote, and the angrier a politician can make voters by denigrating their opponents the more likely they’ll get their votes. Too many Americans are voting out of hate and fear instead of voting for peace and hope.
It’s probably the combination of all three that have me so irritable today. Thank God, I’m working from home today and won’t have to deal with people. I’m not sure I could put a smile on my face today. Yesterday, I just buried my head in a project and tried to ignore everything else. I think I just need some alone time to recenter and reset.
Joe
The Closet Professor 
August 16th, 2024 at 7:27 pm
You are fortunate that you have the option to work from home! I know the politics will continue unabated but I hope the weekend gives you some respite. And that the smoke dissipates. The smoke from Canada last summer was beastly!
August 16th, 2024 at 8:27 pm
I feel for you, Joe. It’s somewhat like little kids will taunt others until they get their way which they find rewarding. Those who give you a hard time are trying to get your goat: don’t let them. I will say I, too, hate when politicians are negative and act like little kids which is also when I turn down the TV volume or fold the newspaper.
August 17th, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Joe, I was reading an article in the NYT today that discusses off label uses for gabapentin (Neurontin) for MIGRAINES. ONLINE the article is titled “the Painkiller used for just about anything.”
August 17th, 2024 at 1:13 pm
My primary doctor has mentioned gabapentine for my trigeminal neuralgia, but my neurologists don’t like prescribing it. I take a different anticonvulsant called Lamotrigine. I tried oxcarbazepine and carbamazepine, two other anticonvulsants, but experienced some unpleasant side effects. I’ll check out the article and talk to my neurologist about it. Thanks.
August 17th, 2024 at 4:25 pm
I sure understand side effects! I will omit that line of history other than to say the lawsuit has been settled. I’m not a doctor, but the article caught my eye…I was a law librarian for ten years so it was part of my job to alert faculty members to articles and publications in their fields of interest…awareness if you will. Actually I loved that part of the job and you can see I just did if!
Take care!