There’s a thread in the weekend forum post on Ask A Manager about guilty confessions. I liked the idea so I’m going to do a post about it because why the hell not? Guilty or not, here are some confessions.
1. I hate traveling. I hate it a lot. Everyone talks about how great it is to travel and visit other places. I agree with the latter to a certain extent, but not the former. At all.
First of of all, I get motion sickness when I fly. I used to take Dramamine, but I didn’t like the way it made me groggy and lethargic. When I flew to Taiwan once, I slept the entire way with the aid of Dramamine. That was…not a good thing. I switched to ginger capsules, and that was so much better. It eradicated the motion sickness, and it did not make me sleepy. Yay!
I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like strangers. I don’t like loud noises, either. This is another reason I hate flying. Not to mention being squished in and talked at by the alpha male who doesn’t recognize that I am icing him out.
But. Here’s the reason I don’t like going to a new place, regardless of how great it is. I have so many issues, physical and mental, but mostly physical, that it’s really difficult for me to cope in a different environment. When I moved to the East Bay (Bay Area) for a year, my allergies ran amok. I had to give up my contacts because my eyes were in agony.
So, yes. I have to deal with a completely different environment, including weather. I hate heat. Anything over 65 makes me cranky, irritable, and lethargic. Put me in 80+ weather, and I will lose my goddamn mind.
Then, add to that the fact that I am allergic to everything including the air. I’m even allergic to mosquitos, which means if they bite me, the bites swell to the size of a grapefruit. Minnesota’s nickname is jokingly Land of 10,000 Mosquitos, which is not far off.
This is why I don’t like the outdoors in general. When I got the allergy test on my thigh (dozens of pricks to see what I’m allergic to), my entire thigh swelled up. I very much see the outdoors as trying to kill me, so I act accordingly.
In addition, I can’t eat dairy or gluten, which means the food of many countries is off-limits to me. This is why I don’t like to travel, and I think it’s a fair reason not to like to go anywhere.
2. I don’t like children. Or rather, I am not particularly fond of them. I don’t dislike them, either, but I’m not one who gushes about how great children are. Kids under five drive me crazy with their repetition and their myopic vision. I know that’s their thing and I’m not down on them because of it, but I just don’t care to hang out with them.
I have liked individual children, but not the concept of children in general. I think it’s because I don’t like people in general, and they are just a subset of that major group. I am so glad I realized I did not want to have children when I was 22 and stuck to my guns, no matter how much shit I got for it (mostly from my mother).