Adronitis
I am a big fan of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It might seem cheesy, but I really enjoy the feeling of finding a word that encapsulates an experience. I have toyed with making poems out of them too, just to see what feelings arise. One word I have come back to a lot is adronitis.
In other words, I know we're going to be best friends, let's get into the good stuff!
Adronitis is feeling an instant connection when you meet a new person, but being dismayed about all of the formalities that need to occur before you can get to the more satisfying “meat” of the person. Their history, hopes, dreams, fears, pleasures.
A definition from TDOS is:
Adronitis (n.): frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone—spending the first few weeks chatting in their psychological entryway, with each subsequent conversation like entering a different anteroom, each a little closer to the center of the house—wishing instead that you could start there and work your way out, exchanging your deepest secrets first, before easing into casualness, until you’ve built up enough mystery over the years to ask them where they’re from, and what they do for a living.
I think the most obvious example is in meeting someone new, and feeling that gleeful little lump in your chest that they might understand the same weird things you do. And you want to jump into all the strangeness, but not so fast as to put them off. However, I have found that mentioning this fact (going meta) can speed up this waiting time.
I think this feeling can even cut across the animal kingdom. For example, if you get a new cat, they can be standoffish for a little bit. After a few days/weeks of constant feeding, they become a bit more cuddly and less skeptical (though it never seems to fully go away…).
Day 4 of the #100DaysToOffload challenge. I am glad to be participating. However, this post was definitely not up to my internal standards. But, here it goes anyway!