March 2020

Mild case of Hermit 

Sorry about how delayed this post is for March, but I've been dealing with a mild case of the Hermits. As a naturally reclusive person I am not the most social at the best of times, but every so often I develop an overwhelming desire to cut off all contact with my fellow humans except for necessary things such as going to work. My family calls this "a case of the hermits." Unfortunately I underwent a severe amount of emotional and verbal bullying in my adolescent years that lead to me turning inward. One benefit of that inward turn was the development of my need to write. I lived in a fantasy world of my creation, and later I became a spectator and reporter of that world. The downside was my tendency every time I was introduced to someone to ask myself "does this person hate me, loathe me, or just not care?" I always considered not caring to be the best I could expect. Never once did I consider "liking" to be in that list. I sometimes wonder if that lead to the reclusive nature I developed in my twenties.  The last time I had a case of the hermits was in 2015, when I stayed at home for three months without going out once. Not bad, that was five years ago. Back in the early 2000's I had a case like that every year, once it even lasted for six months. I guess what I'm trying to say is that people should think about how they treat their peers, bullying is not just physical force and sometimes words can do more permanent damage than fists. I guess I've been fretting about this since February when the anti-bullying campaigns came into play, which could have set off this year's case of the Hermits. It seems to me that verbal and emotional bullying is actually on the rise, and no one truly seems to be aware of it. Even some of the people I saw wearing the anti-bully pink shirts this year were speaking to others in a verbally bullying way.  People should be aware that there is more than one type of bully. Not everyone who suffers through that becomes a writer, some curl into a fetal ball as their minds become self destructive.