How to Deal With Me: A User Manual for Myself


I recently read the article "How to Deal With Me: A User Manual for All My Friends" on Lifehacker wherein the author details all the things his friends should know about him so that they can coax him through life.

Does anyone else think we're going a little overboard with the whole "here is how everyone else needs to adapt to me" thing?  I mean, I'm all for being aware of your needs and communicating them with your loved ones, but what happened to being responsible for ourselves?  What happened to not expecting everyone else to adapt to you at all times?

In light of that, here is my user manual to myself:

When I'm grumpy for any reason:

I am perfect and the world doesn't understand me, so it's obviously not my fault.  However, I will realize that the things that make me grumpy, while completely justified, are probably not the fault of the people most impacted by my grumpiness.  They are poor, innocent bystanders.

Instead of expecting them to know exactly how to treat me (they are silly inferior creatures after all, how could I ever expect them to work out such complexity as that?), I will try to set aside my grumpiness and indignation for long enough to let them know that I am grumpy, it is not their fault, and they should not fret.  Then I'll try not to be a jerk, because using an emotional state as an excuse for shoddy treatment of others is poor form.

When I am doing something weird:

Some people might think I'm weird. If I was very concerned about this, I would probably try harder not to do weird things.  Anyways, brilliance is often misunderstood in its time.

When someone else isn't communicating the way that I communicate:

Even though I obviously am superior and have the best communication style in the world, I recognize that they are clearly not as intelligent/sensitive/clear as I am and accept them anyways, like the magnanimous genius that I am. Being the exceptionally benevolent creature that I am, I will endeavour to check my completely reasonable emotional reactions and give them a chance.

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