why are brains so ridiculous?

[ratcreature]

Mine currently responds to even slightly suspenseful moments in fiction, even ones that I know will be okay, like in romance, with a strong urge to abort and avoid in favor of weird displacement activities, like playing a some game or making a cup of tea or scrolling through Tumblr.

I already read soothing, fluffy things, what more does it want? These phases are very annoying, and disruptive for immersive reading.

Comments

[ratcreature]

Yeah. Now that you mention empathy, it feels sort of adjacent to my embarrassment squick in being uncomfortable, only gone haywire. Sort of like the autoimmune disorder version of a squick that reacts to a whole narrative structure basis instead of being focused on something concrete you can avoid.

[marcelo]

*nods* That's the problem with brains, they can be very bright at being very stupid.

[sillimarilli]

Too funny. When I saw your post I was going to ask you if you had an embarrassment squick, too.

Yep, right there with you. I still have? *checks browser tabs* Yep, still have a tab open to the Outlaw King on Netflix. As much as the story is my jam, just couldn't keep watching as the plot was ramping up. I had to go google the story and find out the ending, and I still haven't gone back to it. It fluctuates with my stress levels and how much gross, evil stuff is happening in world out there.

I've had an embarrassment squick since I was a young child. All that humor based on people making fools of themselves - can't do it.

Can you take shows in which people are just flat out mean to each other all the time, like Seinfeld? or Larry David?

I end up taking refuge in shows in which, yes there's conflict, but people care about each other: Leverage, Good Place, Elementary

[ratcreature]

I have never watched Seinfeld and never even heard of Larry David. I'm not much into comedy in general. My TV watching has declined over recent years but reading used to be less of an issue. What is most annoying that it is hard to predict what exactly will set it off.