How you respond when someone shows you something that means a lot to them

Sometimes, someone will show you something that means a lot to me, but that you’re unfamiliar with.

Often, there will have been a lot of meaning behind why it means something to them, and in showing it to you, they hope that you will instantly understand their attraction to the thing and have this shared experience with them.

It could be something that they’ve made, it could be a song that means a lot to them or a scene from a TV show or film.

9 times out of 10, when you are exposed to the thing, it will not have the same impact on you as it did on them, however, you do not want to hurt them with your muted reaction.

What things do you do in order to deal with this situation when it happens? You can also share anecdotes in this thread of times that this has happened to you.

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Does this thread mean a lot to you?

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I know this thread means a lot to you mate. Yeah i see what you see in it but it’s a personal thing isn’t, that connection. You should be glad you have it, watering it down as a shared experience might dilute the feeling for you. It’s yours. Treasure it.

If someone does something which requires effort, but I don’t want to go on record as anyone thinking is good, I’ll say “You did it!”.

Once went for a jam with some randoms from Meetup. At one point, the guy on bass tells us a story about how he’s always been too shy to sing, and at a recent karaoke thing he was drunk at, someone told him he had a good voice. The guy was a good storyteller, and developed some X-Factor level of sympathy for him as we heard us tell him why he never liked singing. He then asked to cover this INXS song so he could have a go at singing and we all encouraged him to just go for it, it was a beautiful moment.

Then he sang the song. He was fucking awful, like properly bad in any conceivable way, it was really tough to listen to.

At the end I didn’t know how he’d react, unsure if he thought it was good or not, not wanting to instantly praise him if he realised that this was awful. Instead he was super happy with his performance and thanking us for being so understanding. I just kept saying “You did it! You did it, man, good for you!” and things like that over and over.

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“You gotta hear this one song - it’ll change your life; I swear.”

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I put a lot of thought and effort into it, I have high hopes.

I have a lifelong fear of being on the receiving end of this.

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I don’t care for it to be honest

Is this about showing people your nob?

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I used to work with this guy called Gary. He had a habit of contributing to any group conversation with references to TV shows he’d seen or things from films. He had an incredible memory for it, but his consistency in using it as a way to contributing to conversations was awful. Was made even worse by him having the worst taste in films and TV, action films and toilet humour all the way. “That’s like that scene from Family Guy where Peter…” etc. etc.

Sometimes he’d show you the scene on his computer, and I’d have to stand there watching it with him, even if I made it clear I’d seen it before as he watched me waiting for his reaction. At first I’d react politely, try to show him that I had some sort of appreciation for it. Then over time I realised I couldn’t keep it up, I couldn’t condone this sort of behaviour. As my reactions became less and less, I noticed that it didn’t affect his mood or behaviour. I guess he’s never gotten a positive reaction and the fact that I indulged him for a while was enough. I couldn’t even pretend I was busy and walk away because he could see my screen and most of the time I was on here. That’s what I ended up doing though, and indirectly, he upped my productivity because when I had to choose between his clips of something from a Transformers film and my job, I picked work.

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Thank you for your honesty

That wasn’t me I don’t think

Plays 12 minute song in front of you, silently sitting there, looking just past you, stealing glances at your face every so often, hoping for flickers of an emotional response.

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you can do it right now please

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is this better or worse than

“hey watch this youtube video, it’s hilarious”
hands someone their phone

I used to do this a LOT as a teenager, and never understood why other people’s reactions weren’t the same as mine. Older me has learned how to deal with it by never sharing anything I like or have made directly with anyone! No more hurt!

It’s the same thing

Well, looks like it’s just me replying here now. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.

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“oh, yeah, that’s funny, haha, cheers, can you send me that, i’ve got a pal who’d like it”

Best example I’ve ever had of this is an exceptionally coked-up man at a party making everyone shut up and listen to Rockin’ All Over the World.

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