It’s strange to see how some people took this completely the opposite way than I did.
To me, it just shows that even when we’re at our lowest, a little bit of encouragement and a reminder on how much you mean to them can really drag you back from those dark depths.
People being nice to you is not always an ulterior motive.
They should love and accept the rain cloud for who it is.
Is this just manipulation?
A majority of human interaction is some form of manipulation. I think the question should be what degree the manipulation serves the manipulator versus the mark. For example, my wife compliments me for not looking like a total piece of shit. This both helps diminish tendencies in me she dislikes (helping her) and encourages me to not be a piece of shit, which given that my wife generally looks out for my best interests, helps me as well. From the opposite perspective, gaslighting is a form of manipulation that only benefits the manipulator… Hence why it’s frowned upon.
