Do you guys find that friends sometimes react weirdly and project their own fears onto what you're going through? Sometimes friends have made me feel so badly about this sitch, cause they took my situation so personally--like if it had happened to them--and projected all their fear onto me. Luckily, my friend today did the opposite, but I was wondering if anyone else had that experience with anyone in RL?
Oh yes, prime example was my friend coming over last night. I was cooking dinner for us both and she was tired as she had been to work and then gone climbing. Bizarrely halfway through a conversation she asked me why I was so tired and listless?! I turned around, smiled and said I was fine, it was you that said you were tired and listless when you came in. She said later on that the reason she had come round was because she had seen some pictures of me on facebook and thought I had looked distraught and unhappy. She was expecting to see me like this and was looking for these emotions. It just so happens at the time when she thought I was tired and listless I was concentrating on the dinner! I said that was strange because I was actually having a really nice day and really liked those pictures and the only thing was I was a little tired that day.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest but seriously, it is meant to illustrate that people make assumptions about you. They think they are being helpful and objective but actually they base these assumptions on how they are feeling at the time, how they personally feel about your situation and conclude, based on those things, how they expect you should be feeling. Sometimes because they are so clouded by these expectations they can't accept that you are not feeling that way.
They do it because they care and they want to be helpful. They don't realise that voicing their assumptions often hurts you and you don't need to hear these things especially when you are working so hard to overcome these emotions.
It is very rare and such a relief when you meet someone that truly listens to you and doesn't assume your feelings. They listen to how you actually are feeling at that moment and recognise that you are able to help yourself and support you.
That is what is so great about this board too as we all know that here. But a sometimes a physical, understanding presence is such a comfort.
but seriously, it is meant to illustrate that people make assumptions about you. They think they are being helpful and objective but actually they base these assumptions on how they are feeling at the time, how they personally feel about your situation and conclude, based on those things, how they expect you should be feeling. Sometimes because they are so clouded by these expectations they can't accept that you are not feeling that way. 
