::human soap opera

Drama Queens.

Main Entry: drama queen

Function: noun

Date: 1979

: a person given to often excessively emotional performances or reactions

We all know (at least) one.
We all possess the potential to become one. (Frightening, I know.)



I have been acquainted with several.

When you enjoy listening, and generally make concerted efforts to be kind and polite - as I tend to - you attract them.
You are their primary prey.

I recently spent [read: wasted] most of a day with one, and when I was finally able to evacuate the DQ's presence and seek sanctuary in my parents' living room, I felt a degree of relief that was utterly otherworldly.

I once heard a psychotherapist describe DQs as "energy suckers," inasmuch as their Modus Operandi seems to be sucking the energy from any available human source.
They are high-maintenance individuals; overreactive, emotionally manipulative, attention-seizing, inordinately fragile and, at times, infuriating.

Since I treasure empathy as perhaps the most paramount of all virtues, I do attempt to place myself in their position, try to learn all I can about why they may behave in such a peculiar manner, and try to be as sensitive as possible.

But I cannot do this at the expense of my own well-being, my own sanity.

I cannot entertain the notion of allowing such people to penetrate my inner circle.

I cannot function in any sort of healthy manner in the presence of anyone whose psyche is so crowded with self-absorption that it leaves no space for love.