If you don't have anything nice to say...

We all encounter people we don’t like on a daily basis. They’re at school, at work, in the mall…they’re everywhere. But how do we interact with people who aren’t in our good books? I’m a people watcher. Not in a creepy stalker way, but I pay attention to how people interact with each other. I often see this: two people talking with one another, both seemingly engaged and enjoying what the other person has to say. Seeing this leads me to assume that these two people like each other…but you’d be surprised how often that isn’t the case.

Usually once I get the chance to talk to one person from the conversation I’ve been spying on, they usually can’t wait to say things like “Oh my god I hate her”, or “He’s so annoying”, or “If I have to see her face one more time today I’m gonna SCREAM!” These statements always confuse me because just moments earlier, these two people seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. 

A lot of people fake being nice; they pretend to like people whom they can’t stand. Do they put on a happy face to avoid hurting the other person’s feelings? Are they nice because it takes less effort? Are they trying to avoid conflict? 

Personally, I hate being fake with people. It just takes way too much energy, energy that could be put to better use. If I don’t like someone, I’m not going to be intentionally rude to them or anything, I can be civil. However, I never feel in the mood to go out of my way to smile and chat with people who drive me absolutely insane. I used to be a “loud mouth.” I used to always say what was on my mind as soon as it popped into my head. But for the past few years I’ve adopted the old “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” motto. Seeing as how I’m so opinionated, following this motto has left me to be fairly quiet (not always, but a lot of the time).

But this whole quiet streak I’ve been on has been really getting to me lately, yet I’m not quite sure how to fix it. Should I revert to my loud mouth self who doesn’t care what she says out loud? Should I start being fake and pretend I like everyone I’ve ever met? Or is there some in between balance I can be comfortable with?

Decisions, decisions.

P.S. My quietness isn’t always because I’ m in the presence of people I don’t like…just to make that clear!