Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
All I know is what I learned in a 12 step program for Alcoholics. We got better by sharing our stories with each other, to relate with one another our experience, strength, and hope. Now, with strangers, or new acquaintances, of course nothing is discussed in depth, at first. And I think it is important to keep things positive. I have learned many things by people telling me what they did to cope in situations that have been similar to mine. Of course this does not work with narcissists, they just want to blab and do not want to hear what you did, because they have no empathy and everything is about them, they are so "special", you know. People can drain the hell out of you if you are empathetic and compassionate, relationships should be on a give and take balance. If a person has an experience that is horrible, like the loss of a child or home, or just got terrible news from their doctor, yes, of course, just listen and validate their feelings, but in other cases, I would expect a give and take of sharing common experiences, how else to solve a problem?