What have you realized is not normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve realized most of my friends I’ve made in this area (the DMG) through political organizing all suffer from mental illness.

I used to think they were all just passionate women, dedicated to progressive causes. But now I see they are in reality, quite unbalanced and really kinda obsessed, in really unhealthy ways. It makes me miss the normal people back home in the red state where I grew up.

Same. I live in a super liberal area and while my friends are lovely, they are all anxious and depressed and struggling mightily with the state of the country and the world. When I go visit my family in a red state, everyone is business as usual and doesn’t really seem to get upset or passionate or upset about politics.

It makes sense that people inclined to empathy get anxious and sad when others are being harmed. Calling people who can look the other way "normal" is an odd take. Maybe just "disengaged"?

Er. Super liberal areas are NOT empathetic, as evidenced by this thread and your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please settle for me which is normal:

I grew up making Swiss Miss hot chocolate with water. My husband's family made it with milk.

Milk feels so ABNORMAL to me! (Our kids chose the milk path, fyi). So maybe I'm the weird one.

I dont mean this as classist, but water is water families who couldn't spare the milk would use- or what they use at soccer games b/c its easier/cheaper.

I'm the OP whose family used water, and I totally get this! The crazy thing is that my family was better off than my husband's, so I'm not sure this is why (in our cases!)

[Anonymous]

While we Americans think it’s normal, the big business of college sports is not normal in the rest of the world. It is crazy that we:
Pay college football coaches more than any other state employee
Accept students into universities solely based on their athletic ability and not academic ability
Spend millions of tax dollars on training facilities and travel for college students and fields and gyms for sports that no one watches.

I’m born and bred in the USA but I’m with the rest of the world in thinking these things are strange and stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While we Americans think it’s normal, the big business of college sports is not normal in the rest of the world. It is crazy that we:
Pay college football coaches more than any other state employee
Accept students into universities solely based on their athletic ability and not academic ability
Spend millions of tax dollars on training facilities and travel for college students and fields and gyms for sports that no one watches.

I’m born and bred in the USA but I’m with the rest of the world in thinking these things are strange and stupid.

And it has trickled down to poison HS and even MS sports.

Agree, not normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve realized most of my friends I’ve made in this area (the DMG) through political organizing all suffer from mental illness.

I used to think they were all just passionate women, dedicated to progressive causes. But now I see they are in reality, quite unbalanced and really kinda obsessed, in really unhealthy ways. It makes me miss the normal people back home in the red state where I grew up.

Same. I live in a super liberal area and while my friends are lovely, they are all anxious and depressed and struggling mightily with the state of the country and the world. When I go visit my family in a red state, everyone is business as usual and doesn’t really seem to get upset or passionate or upset about politics.

I like to keep my head up my ass to keep chill too. God forbid someone think I’m anxious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That not everyone rehearses conversations/meeting in their head and/or replays them afterward.

Hah! I actually write motivational messages to myself before phone calls. “You are not in trouble!”

[Anonymous]

975 carjackings in 1 year in DC alone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While we Americans think it’s normal, the big business of college sports is not normal in the rest of the world. It is crazy that we:
Pay college football coaches more than any other state employee
Accept students into universities solely based on their athletic ability and not academic ability
Spend millions of tax dollars on training facilities and travel for college students and fields and gyms for sports that no one watches.

I’m born and bred in the USA but I’m with the rest of the world in thinking these things are strange and stupid.

And it has trickled down to poison HS and even MS sports.

Agree, not normal.

Yes. And the amount of time kids spend on formal sports, at the expense of unstructured play, sleep, etc - also not normal. Oh, and their parents watching all of their games, and spending most of their free time driving them to practices. And college recruiting for sports. Agree with "strange and stupid" for all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please settle for me which is normal:

I grew up making Swiss Miss hot chocolate with water. My husband's family made it with milk.

Milk feels so ABNORMAL to me! (Our kids chose the milk path, fyi). So maybe I'm the weird one.

I dont mean this as classist, but water is water families who couldn't spare the milk would use- or what they use at soccer games b/c its easier/cheaper.

Swiss Miss has powdered milk in the formulation. It’s a plus-up to add more, but it’s not necessary or a sign of poverty if you don’t.