Don’t dunk on people for liking things and let everyone enjoy… but I refuse to keep quiet about things I don’t like. The best talks with friends are about movies/games/shows they liked and that I didn’t like. What did they like about it? Why have we both seen the same thing and taken away something completely different? Maybe I’ll go back and watch it again. Maybe we’ll laugh about it.
There is a non-toxic way to talk about what you don’t like…if you can’t be non-toxic then keep your mouth shut. If you’re the sort to get personally offended when someone says they didn’t enjoy a show you liked, then there’s something wrong with you.
Normalise talking about opinions without causing or taking offence. Accept that everyone is entitled to their opinion and the opinions in people’s heads cannot hurt you.
I agree with your overall message of discussing things in a non-toxic way, but I would also caution people against being the friend in the group who seems to dislike everything. I’m not directing this at you specifically, but what you said reminded me of how I used to be and of other people I’ve known, where taking the negative position on whatever is being discussed is just what came naturally. Even if you manage to not be toxic about it, it will still get old after a while. I didn’t realize that’s how I was coming across until one day a friend exasperatedly asked me why I had to be so negative all the time. There’s bound to be plenty of things you can agree on liking with your friends or else it would be kind of weird for you to have become friends in the first place. For anyone else who tends to be the negative Nancy, I would recommend making a conscious effort to trade off between being the “for” and “against” side of your friend debates, so to speak.
Don’t dunk on people for liking things and let everyone enjoy… but I refuse to keep quiet about things I don’t like. The best talks with friends are about movies/games/shows they liked and that I didn’t like. What did they like about it? Why have we both seen the same thing and taken away something completely different? Maybe I’ll go back and watch it again. Maybe we’ll laugh about it.
There is a non-toxic way to talk about what you don’t like…if you can’t be non-toxic then keep your mouth shut. If you’re the sort to get personally offended when someone says they didn’t enjoy a show you liked, then there’s something wrong with you.
Normalise talking about opinions without causing or taking offence. Accept that everyone is entitled to their opinion and the opinions in people’s heads cannot hurt you.
I agree with your overall message of discussing things in a non-toxic way, but I would also caution people against being the friend in the group who seems to dislike everything. I’m not directing this at you specifically, but what you said reminded me of how I used to be and of other people I’ve known, where taking the negative position on whatever is being discussed is just what came naturally. Even if you manage to not be toxic about it, it will still get old after a while. I didn’t realize that’s how I was coming across until one day a friend exasperatedly asked me why I had to be so negative all the time. There’s bound to be plenty of things you can agree on liking with your friends or else it would be kind of weird for you to have become friends in the first place. For anyone else who tends to be the negative Nancy, I would recommend making a conscious effort to trade off between being the “for” and “against” side of your friend debates, so to speak.