Moods

[mlittrell]

im pretty chilled out most of the time. i dont get "moody". i get excited a lot. if a new idea comes up or a topic i know a lot about is brought up in conversation i visually get excited haha. but moody, definitely not, i know how to handle my emotions.

 

[heart]

To me this idea of being able to put things in perspective is admirable and a good goal but it also has some negative sides in it. Say I put everything in perspective. Nothing matters really. It gets close to cynicism.

I feel it's not the same, but still... thinking from that perspective, someone beats me up or a girl dumps me or I am humiliated in front of someone I care or anything like that. If I am good at seeing it from that perspective it doesn't matter. And then I would have to ask myself if it matters to me to be respected by my friends or if my feelings for that girl meant anything or does it matter to me to feel safe when walking on the street. Where do I stop? I really despise cynicism and if there is a way that brings me closer to being a cynic, I don't wanna go there.

There's nothing wrong with a healthy degree of cynicism. It would be just as out of balance to always be positive as to always be negative.

 

[ENTJ Extraordinaire]

hmmm, i am the sort of person who is always flamboyant and ostentatious up until a point, when i just break under the pressure of my own facade!

it doesn't happen often, and i notice it most at parties, where i can be the life of the party, and entertain everyone for hours with my boundless energy and insane fun.

but the moment i am alone, and in a one-on-one interaction with someone, i crash,

THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHEN THAT ONE ON ONE ENCOUNTER IS WITH PARTICULARLY EMOTIONAL PEOPLE (for example, my INFJ friend)

i guess for me, a 'mood' is how much you enjoy yourself around people, and for me, being an ENTJ, i am quite social, but my E also quite often swings to an I, and for that time, i feel very dark, cynical, and 'moody'dd

 

[GinKuusouka]

I'm moody. Someone once thought that I was bipolar. I'm not though. I have been called the most emotional person that someone knows. What can I say? My emotion colors my life and what I feel is what I go with at the time, though the depth to which I express it can vary. Fun times...

 

[Eldanen]

I think that usually my worst moods come from getting my hopes up too quickly and then having them dashed very shortly thereafter.

 

[StoryOfMyLife]

*shifts in seat* I'm probably more moody than I let on. When I'm sitting alone in the house most of the time it's not going to be noticed by anybody but me...and sometimes it's hard to put across that kind of emotion while talking on the internet. However, a certain someone *points a couple posts up* seems to usually know if I'm being down on myself. I've a tendency to try and stuff everything inside because I don't want to make other people deal with my emotions--I don't want to burden them with my problems. As a kid and teenager I was horribly moody, though, more than I can be now, sometimes. I think my mom didn't know how to handle that [in hindsight, it might be why she lost her patience with me so much]. But I didn't have a fantastic childhood, either, so I guess several things come into play there. Otherwise, I try to be pretty upbeat about things, life in general-- it works...sometimes.

 

[ENTJ Extraordinaire]

*shifts in seat* I'm probably more moody than I let on. When I'm sitting alone in the house most of the time it's not going to be noticed by anybody but me...and sometimes it's hard to put across that kind of emotion while talking on the internet. However, a certain someone *points a couple posts up* seems to usually know if I'm being down on myself. I've a tendency to try and stuff everything inside because I don't want to make other people deal with my emotions--I don't want to burden them with my problems. As a kid and teenager I was horribly moody, though, more than I can be now, sometimes. I think my mom didn't know how to handle that [in hindsight, it might be why she lost her patience with me so much]. But I didn't have a fantastic childhood, either, so I guess several things come into play there. Otherwise, I try to be pretty upbeat about things, life in general-- it works...sometimes.

*sigh* completely agree.

its surprisingly hard to tell an INFJs mood at the best of times [which is surprising, considering all the INFJs i know really wear their hearts on their sleeves]. my best friend, and INFJ...*sigh* for the most part my N serves to be strong enough to be able to pick up on it. however, when i do, its a feeling so strong that i don't even have to be talking to him, i just feel it. for the most part tho, i think i finally am starting to work out the tricks of the INFJ [but don't tell him that, coz he will change on me again ] my N is strong enough to see right through everything he puts up against the world, and [after having this discussion with him last night] we finally realised that we have a great relationship, because neither of us can escape the intuitive radar of the other.

anyway, back to my point [woops...rant] the internet is a cow as far as i am concerned, so isolating, so testing to my E, for starters, and without my N, *sigh* i don't think i would be able to handle it. [REAL LIFE CONVERSATIONS FTW!]

 

[sade]

Though question. I am moody, yet I'm not.

My moods stay pretty consistent and I have a calm and quiet exterior, people sometimes think nothing affects me. Someone once said me to be unemotional. LOL. The ass didn't know me.

But I'm moody. I go through many different moods in a day and most things I encounter still affect my moods. Heart on the sleeve, eh? It changes, a lot. I rarely venture to the aggressive or pissed off -side, but everything else happens. Even withour provoking. I just don't want to bother others with my moodiness, it's not so important, it'll pass.

And, if you see me moody around you. I like you, I trust you and so on. Be happy. ..except if I'm cranky all the time or passive-aggressive, which means the complete opposite.
I need to loosen the controll I have..

 

[Giggly]

Though question. I am moody, yet I'm not.

My moods stay pretty consistent and I have a calm and quiet exterior, people sometimes think nothing affects me. Someone once said me to be unemotional. LOL. The ass didn't know me.

But I'm moody. I go through many different moods in a day and most things I encounter still affect my moods. Heart on the sleeve, eh? It changes, a lot. I rarely venture to the aggressive or pissed off -side, but everything else happens. Even withour provoking. I just don't want to bother others with my moodiness, it's not so important, it'll pass.

And, if you see me moody around you. I like you, I trust you and so on. Be happy. ..except if I'm cranky all the time or passive-aggressive, which means the complete opposite.
I need to loosen the controll I have..

We are a lot alike.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

My moods are consistent especially outwardly when interacting with other people. What affects me the most are physiological factors like low blood sugar and being over tired. I have some anxiety issues, but don't tend to indulge moods because I really want to be consistent and coherent in my thoughts and actions. In some ways it makes me unchallenging to interact with which has some positive and negative results.

 

[King sns]

My moods are consistent especially outwardly when interacting with other people. What affects me the most are physiological factors like low blood sugar and being over tired. I have some anxiety issues, but don't tend to indulge moods because I really want to be consistent and coherent in my thoughts and actions. In some ways it makes me unchallenging to interact with which has some positive and negative results.

same on everything! Blood sugar, fatigue, anxiety. I've found quick fixes and longterm fixes for all of them, though. So my moods are pretty stable. I dont think there is anything wrong with being unchallenging to interact with.
Hmmm.. choosing to interact with someone
level headed happy go lucky person
or low blood sugar anxious tired bitch.

Which would you choose?

 

[EJCC]

I usually spend days alternating between satisfied, tired, focused, irritated and happy. When sadness or full-on anger or frustration enter the picture, I always feel like I'm being moody, even when my emotions are justified.

On almost every profile I've read on ESTJs, it says that we struggle with feelings of anger. I'd say that's true with me, only since I'm a female ESTJ, sometimes that anger manifests itself in almost crying/getting choked up out of frustration fairly often. It really pisses me off that I do that, even though I only do in front of family members or close friends.

Other times my anger is more... traditional... and it freaks people out. I tend to feel like I've unleashed a monster or something, even though when I get mad, I don't yell or throw things; I just fume. I feel really bad that this happens at all, even though it happens, at the most, once every two months.

Also (probably because of my inferior F), I unintentionally keep a lot of my negative feelings inside. (That's probably why I'm a generally cheerful and happy person.) However, when I'm around friends of mine who like to talk about their feelings or the feelings of others (specifically my ENTP friend), and I feel obligated to pitch in, those feelings resurface, and as a result I usually end up feeling terrible - sad, drained, etc. Sometimes when something bad happens, I get lost in my own head and brood on other past mistakes, most of them insignificant but for some reason still embarassing to me.

In a nutshell, I don't think that I am moody, exactly, or at least overly/abnormally so, but I often feel like I am.

 

[01011010]

Not really moody. I get bouts of irritation, but that's as far as it goes.

 

[cherchair]

I'm so moody that my mom once thought I was mildly bipolar. I think it's due to an oscillation between Ne-dom and Fi-dom. The former is the chipper enthusiastic "high," and the latter the angsty melancholic "low." Horray for moodiness!

I actually do have bipolar--as I've been too open about in this forum--and it's far from mild. My moods are extreme and a cycle can last for six months. What I've learned, though, is that while my moodiness is caused by a physically different brain, my thoughts affect my mood just like anyone else. If I feel myself getting wound up over something and let it go on long enough, it will trigger a mood episode. I've also become familiar with what kinds of stress are more likely to trigger me and learned to avoid them whenever possible (it's not always possible; e.g., friends and loved ones die unexpectedly and there's not a damn thing I can do about it).

I have some choice about how I act during mood episodes as well. I can and do let people know that when I'm experiencing irritable mood (often a component of hypomania or mania) that it has nothing to do with them or else I isolate myself as much as possible till it passes. When impulsivity strikes--if I realize I'm hypomanic, say, it's easier to resist the impulse. It's harder to control my need to chatter, to be "on" when I'm up, but I can usually keep from dumping my negativity on people when depressed. Luckily, I mostly surround myself with people who are either moody themselves (this can backfire) or who at least have a good understanding of mood, so I can just say I'm depressed and they won't make too many social demands when I'm at ebb tide. Sometimes they'll notice the beginning of a mood change even before I do and say something like you're getting hyper/obssessive/compulsive about stuff. It gives me a heads-up and also helps me stop the behavior that elicited the comment in the first place.

 

[cherchair]

I'm so moody that my mom once thought I was mildly bipolar. I think it's due to an oscillation between Ne-dom and Fi-dom. The former is the chipper enthusiastic "high," and the latter the angsty melancholic "low." Horray for moodiness!

I do have bipolar--as I've been probably too open about in this forum--and it isn't mild. My moods are extreme and a cycle can last six months (a few up to a year).

Over the years I've learned that while the chemical component of my moods make them seem beyond my control, they do begin with thoughts. I can now feel myself getting wound up about something and know if I let my thoughts continue to spin out of control, I'm likely to set off a mood. Same with certain stressors that are almost guaranteed to trigger a mood, so I try to avoid those, though it's not always possible (e.g., friends and loved ones die unexpectedly and there's not a damn thing I can do about it).

I've also gained at least a modicum of control over my behaviors during a mood episode. When I have irritable mood syndrome (often a component ofhypomania or mania), I let people know it has nothing to do with them. Since I tend to surround myself with people who understand moods quite well, they usually seem to get it when I say this. Same with depression. If I say I'm depressed, intimates will usually not make a lot of social demands on me when I'm at ebb tide. When impulsivity strikes, if I know I'm, say, hypomanic, the impulse is easier to resist. It's harder not to chatter and be "on" when I'm up.

I think the real polarity of bipolar--and moods in general--is social energy. When we're up, we have lots, for whatever reason and feeling down has to do with being drained of--or at least low on--social energy.

Creativity needs passion and that comes from emotion

This is where my rather extreme emotions come in handy and where I try to channel them.

 

[Mole]

..the internet is a cow as far as i am concerned, so isolating...

It depends how you write.

If you treat it as a normal conversation, you will write in the conversational style.

Unfortunately the conversational style depends on visual clues and auditory tone, not to mention body language.

So if you write in the conversational style on the internet, you can expect to be isolated and cut off.

Compare the internet to the telephone.

Although the telephone looses visual clues it does keep auditory clues for context.

In fact a telephone conversation is quite different from a face to face conversation. But we don't feel isolated and alone on the phone because we talk in the telephone style. And it works.

But here on the internet everyone talks in the conversational style as though they were talking face to face. And it doesn't work.

But take a tip from me.

Keep on repeating the same style, in the hope you will get a different result.

 

[Frosty]

Moodier than Id like, less moody than I was.

Though I do think its ok and human to have moods. If people didnt react to life... well it seems to me like life would be... pretty dull and meaningless. Living life means ups and downs in my opinion. Not always super severe ones- but flatness isnt something to work towards just as extreme moods arent.

Thats just me though.

 

[Maou]

I seem to have two distinct emotional operaring modes, that change bi-weekly. One is a more creative, anti-social, depressing type, but has more intense mental clarity and somehow my prefferable mode of operation. The other is high strung, anxious, cant focus, irritable, insomnia prone, and the state I get fed up with certain things and fix it. I sometimes am somewhere in the middle of these, and I am aware of the transition between these moods. I can get surprisingly apathetic and cruel at times too.

 

[Earl Grey]

Usually, I don't let moods affect my performance, be it negative or positive.
For example; being more agreeable when happy, or being more contrarian when unhappy, etc.

Generally speaking, there's the default mood, then there's a more happy, gregarious, friendly / open one. I tend to tone it down because moods in general (especially intense ones, positive or negative) feel very draining. If I drop into a dark / sad mood, it usually does not last long.

If something eliciting a certain mood in me is removed (postive or negative), then the emotional effects also disappear very quickly.

 

[rav3n]

Scrolling through this thread makes me sad. So many lost members.