Afraid

View Thinker #a43029's profile thought 8 years, 7 months ago...

You make it so easy to question myself and everything I love, but I don’t know how to watch you torture yourself. Every day when I wake up, I wonder if you’re alive and if your every thought is of how much you don’t want to exist. I go to sleep every night thinking about how I may never see you again. I don’t know what to say anymore. Sometimes my emotions feel like static on an out of tune radio with snippets of songs trying to break through. All I want is to cry and scream and demand that you stay, to tell you that I need you. I don't know how to exist in this world without you. I don't know how to find meaning here. All I know is that last time I looked for it I found you.

You know that I love you, and I know I can’t expect that to change how you feel. I sympathize with why it doesn't. I just can't stop writing your eulogy in my sleep. When you don’t answer my call I spend every minute until I hear from you trying to convince myself that you’re not dead. I try to prepare myself for the worst. Sometimes I imagine what it will be like when you’re gone and the time we spend talking is filled with echoes of all the things I never thought to ask you. But no matter what, I can’t make myself feel ready. If I think too hard about the possibility I can’t breathe. I can’t be okay with it. I’ll never be okay with you being gone. If you kill yourself I’ll die. And if I told you that it would just come out as an attempt to hold you hostage for my own benefit. There’s nothing that I can do to change this, and I don’t know how to accept that.

thought 8 years, 10 months ago...

I'm honestly terrified of The Ether disappearing. I know it costs money to maintain. And most of the original users have moved on. There are no ads, no branding, nothing. Word of mouth has brought some people, but it's difficult to figure out who to invite. If I know them well enough to think they might find it useful or enjoyable, they probably know me well enough to figure out who I am. And the thought of someone reading nearly ten years' worth of my thoughts, without me there to explain which ones are outdated, without me there to give context, feels a lot like the thought of going running naked in the rain through a busy outdoor shopping mall.

I can't place a value on how much The Ether means to me currently. Ten years of recorded thoughts are not something I want to lose. But I can't post like I used to, or feel I can't, because barely anyone else is posting.

I can't even offer to help with the costs right now. All I can do is hope.

P

No need to help with the costs, and no need to worry about Ether going anywhere.

Last year, I started working on an overhaul of the site to make it faster, slicker, and easier to use. Life got in the way and progress was slow, then set back even further when I changed major versions of the framework that the new version is being built in.

Once the site has been redeveloped, development of a mobile app will come next.

Concerning the growth of the community, I'm not planning to worry about that until major development work is done. I'd like to get business cards and stickers printed up to help people spread the word. I'd like to try to keep it to word-of-mouth advertising, though.

Concerning anxiety about losing your collected thoughts, what if the new version of the site included a handy way to download an archive of all of your thoughts?

View Thinker #77406d's profile

Hooray! I mean, this is great news for whoever wrote that totally anonymous comment. I can't speak for anon but I would very much appreciate a handy way to download an archive of almost a decade's worth of thoughts.

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View Thinker #418656's profile thought 14 years, 7 months ago...

I'm afraid to fall in love again

I'm afraid I'll be hurt... again

I know its silly to be afraid of this and I know it happens every day but I really detest being vulnerable and nervous about that vulnerability. I want to be safe, secure and with my wits about me. Right now that does not seem possible with a person who might threaten my ability to remain aloof. Yet, at the same time, I am afraid of being alone

I don't want to be alone, yet I don't want to be with someone for fear of actually falling for them. I thought at first that I might be able to just go back to how I once was but alas. It does not seem possible

View Thinker #ff0066's profile thought 16 years, 1 month ago...

I know you mean well, I know you just want the best for me when you tell me I should talk to him. But the truth is, I'm afraid. Not afraid of being rejected, but of being accepted. I'm afraid of him saying yes. I'm afraid of being in another relationship, unless I'm sure that it will end well, or not end at all for that matter. I'm afraid of falling, only to realize that he isn't the one I want. I'm afraid of trying, when I see so many things that could go wrong.

I know what you're thinking right now...how can I know until I try. But I don't want to try to make things work if they aren't compatible. I want to be in a relationship where I know for a fact that I like the person, not one where I'm unsure, or where I like him one minute and think he is a jerk the next....

I'm sorry, I know you think I'm just being a chicken...but I'm not the kind of girl that can date casually. When I'm in a relationship I take it seriously...and that means I am seriously hurt if/when things don't work out... Maybe you can't understand this, because you are the kind to date casually, and I kind of envy you that... but I dont want to put myself on the line again, unless I know the guy is worth it. And as much as he can be amazing sometimes, when my head is back to thinking straight I remember that it's all just a game to him...

View Thinker #5f1f0a's profile

I can understand that. You don't want to be hurt, but the sad truth is everyone is going to hurt you. What you have to do is find out who's worth the pain. How are you ever going to find out if he (and not specifically him, but any "he") is worth it if you never put yourself in a position where you could be hurt.

View Thinker #ff0066's profile

The specific "he" I have pretty much decided isn't worth it... But yes, I completely agree that I will have to put myself out there at some point. But I need to be sure I actually want it before I do.

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