I actively practice reactance because humans are trainable and I like people that interact with me to be respectful and not naggers. It's amazing how people treat each other to me sometimes. I simply refuse to be treated in a disrespectful manner, and if someone wishes to interact with me, they have to show respect because I will just ignore them otherwise.
When I was younger I would actively refuse requests much as the article states about people trying to retain their autonomy - even when the request was something I wanted to do or was already doing. Now I am much more relaxed about that. Call it immature, but I generally let them know that I was in the process of doing it so they know I'm not doing whatever simply because I was told to. Sometimes it is still hard for me to do things I want to do / should do if someone has told me to do them, though.
The article made me think of something else I would pose as a question to everyone else: Does nagging work? I mean, if it didn't work, people wouldn't do it, right? Perhaps it works on some and not others.
__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)
|