Lindsay - Chapter XVI
A month went by since Lindsay found her job as a waitress. By now she knew everybody and, as always, some people liked while others did not. For example, one waiter completely ignored her. He never said hi or talked to her whatsoever. Lindsay was the kind of person for whom it was very important to get along with everybody, so she paid close attention to this seemingly unimportant detail and felt rejected. Her newly found psychiatrist told her that it was part of her depression, otherwise she would focus on the positive sides of her work and on the people who liked her (and that was almost everybody).
In regards to focusing on the positive instead of the negative, psychologists have found an explanation by conducting studies. For example, abnormal psychology, the branch of the social science that deals with dysfunction and mental health, dictates that in depression there appears to be selective attention. People with the condition tend to concentrate on the negative and forego the positive. A characteristic of depression, or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), seems to be loss of self-esteem. Again, psychologists have found that people with low self-esteem tend to notice more frowning faces in an array of smiling faces to a greater degree than people with high self-esteem. According to the researchers, the finding meant that people with a negative self-image tend to expect more judgement and rejection from others than people with a positive self-image.
 |
| Lindsay's dundelion flowers. |
Today Lindsay woke up very tired. She did not feel like going to work, but she knew she had to. She even thought about calling in sick, but she changed her mind quickly. First of all, today was payday. Second, she had only worked three days this week, while she usually worked four shifts per week. So she got ready and left. But she was in for a surprise…
She was serving patrons when the most handsome gentleman walked in. She had to stop herself from staring. What’s more, he was sitting in her section, so naturally she went over to take his order. She was amazed by his polite, but flirtatious demeanor. He tipped her really well and in a very shy way asked her if he could have her number. Of course, she was delighted that he did. She gave him her number and he left, while she continued to work. His name was Brandon and he was as charming as he was handsome. He called her in the evening and asked her out. Even though she was really interested, she declined. She believed in playing hard to get. She was old enough to know that being too easy would quickly bore the other person.
She saw romance and dating as a game and she wanted to be and remain a challenge. Ideally, she would propose an alternative such as joining her with her girlfriends, or group of friends, but since she was a loner she had none. She started to think whether a relationship was even possible due to her lack of friends. She knew some people would be quite turned off by such a state of affairs.
See also:
 |
| Meditation. Illustration by Elena |
 |
| Lindsay's own things. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can leave you comment here. Thank you.