Sure I understand that part completely. It's the part where he says he's gained confidence DESPITE it. I'm just curious what part of the TMF played against his confidance, if he doesn't mind sharing 🙂
Without going into detail (which I think would be of little benefit), we all interact with and react to one another and to situations in different ways. Some of these interactions increase trust, and some of them diminish it. I’ve had more interactions that have diminished my trust in people here, say, than I would among my normal everyday friends. Most of these were never met with a proper effort to gain understanding, close the wounds or end the distrust, nor was there any interest in doing so except among a select few. That has long been a disappointment, and continued observation has helped inform my opinions of some personalities here. Mind you,
I think most everyone here is very well-intentioned, and that virtue is deeply appreciated, but when understanding and judgement are compromised, intentions mean little, and there are a number of folks here whose judgement I’m forced to question.
But humans are flawed, and so these things happen. *shrugs*
At the end of the day, I’m more confident and at ease talking about my fetish to my vanilla friends (who make gentle mockery with wiggling-finger hand gestures when they ask about my “tickle friends”), girls I flirt with, and my family who shares nothing of the fetish with me, than I am sharing my interest in the company of some of the folks here (though most of them are cool). I know who and how far people can be trusted, and who can’t. I’m about as at ease going to a gathering as I am going to work (and you know what I do), and so I attend every gathering with the same palpable appearance of calm as I do at work (I'm told), a watchful eye, and ready protocols for when the next person loses their sense of good judgement -- but I attend anyway because this is my interest, too, and no bullshit nor other people’s shortcomings will chase me out.
🙂
