Sisters

Why are people so stubbornly insensitive? For that matter, why am I?

I used to be good friends with sister #1. She has a mood cycle that's very long - couple years down, couple years up, then repeat. We were close. Then her mood headed South. That was 6 years ago. Now she never speaks to me. Back in the day, she was an early riser and so was I. So I used to call her house at like, 6:30 in the morning. To bond before going to work or whatever. It was great. Then came the down turn. She asked me not to call her so early anymore. So I didn't. I thought the mood-cycle was kicking in, and she would pop back in a few years. So I was patient, gave her space, etc. But now it's been six years. What if the entire break in our relationship isn't because of the bi-polar issue? What if the entire break is because . . . I'm insensitive for calling her house early in the morning? What if it's not that she has a negative attitude in general, but only has a negative attitude towards me, because I called her house early in the morning? How could I have been so insensitive?

Why can't people just tell me what they need? Why do people think I should be able to figure it out on my own? Why why why?

Why do people think they can change my behavior by giving me negative feedback in the first place? Sister #3 just calls and leaves long, yelling messages. Like this: "Okay, since you're so fond of leaving me long-a** !@#$% messages, here's a long-a** !@#$% message for you!" Followed by a list of demands. Of course I don't do them. I delete her messages as soon as I know which tack she's on. This just makes her even MORE angry, because (a) her demands have not been met, and (b) I don't know what her demands are anyway.

Ohhhh . . . maybe sister #1 is mad because she did communicate her needs to me, but I tuned her out because she was insulting me at the time! It's entirely possible.

Well listen up people! If I didn't listen to your needs, maybe it's because YOU were just YELLING about my general INCOMPETENCE at the time.

For the record, I'm perfectly competent.

YOU GUYS, on the other hand, are INCOMPETENT at communicating your needs.

No wonder you're so miserable.