The Delicate Dance of Being Friendly Yet Carefully Boundaried

A chance encounter taught me more about human connection than a lifetime of polite smiles ever could, I’ll never forget the time I was called “one of those people.” It was a stunning morning the kind where the sun feels like a gift after months of steady Rainfall . I was leaving a food event with my senior Labrador, @oge , navigating a tight lobby space when a stranger’s off-hand remark stopped me cold. Her dog ambled toward us on a long leash as she leaned against a counter distracted and i asked her politely to give us space and she responded with a smirk: “Oh you’re one of those people.”

Those words hung in the air long after the encounter ended as they made me question my own intentions. Was I being overly cautious Unfriendly? Or was I simply honoring the boundaries I needed? This experience became a mirror reflecting a larger truth about how we navigate relationships with strangers with loved ones and even with ourselves .

The Power of Words to Define and Confine our society as Words shape our reality sometimes, They can build bridges or erect walls When that woman labeled me “one of those people,” she wasn’t just making a comment she was assigning me a role in her narrative. I felt reduced to a stereotype a cautionary tale about “overly protective business owners” It stung because it misrepresented my truth.

This isn’t just about dog parks or awkward encounters It’s about the labels we slap onto people every day The coworker we call “too sensitive,” the friend we describe as “flaky,” the family member we write off as “selfish” These words solidify into identities limiting our ability to see the full complexity of another person. I’ve been guilty of this too I’ve made snap judgments about parents whose kids melt down in grocery stores permissive or neighbors who never reciprocate invitations unfriendly as It’s easier to categorize people than to curiosity about their stories. What if that permissive parent is battling chronic illness? What if the unfriendly neighbor struggles with social anxiety? Words that confine others eventually confine us too, and to a world where understanding is scarce and judgment is plentiful.

Image created by META AI