Daily writing prompts, Favorite Posts

Warning – Do Not Read This Post!

58 Comments

You’re reading it anyway? In spite of the warning?

Why is it when people tell us NOT to do something, it is so much more tempting to do it?

I’ve already written my post for today. Perhaps you saw it already, or maybe you haven’t scrolled down that far yet. You should look for it. It was brilliant. I have nothing else to say. There is no reason to read this.

And yet it is soooo tempting to do something when we are warned against it.

I’m sure there’s a psychological reason for it that I could look up on Google and quote here. But I’m not really interested in regurgitating boring textbook data.

And yet I really want to know. Why are you reading this when I told you not to? Maybe you are regretting it.

Is it the thrill of doing something you’re not supposed to do? Does it feel empowering to do what you want to do instead of following the rules? Do you naturally rebel against restrictions?

I’m a rule follower. I always have been. If I break the rules even just a little my heart pounds and I’m terrified. What if I’m caught? What if I’m found out?

Last night on the way to an amazing concert (which I may post about later) Google instructed me to divert off the main road onto an access road to get around traffic. “I can’t do that,” I thought to myself. And I didn’t. I sat in traffic instead, watching other people zooming past us on the access road.

My life has kind of been that way. I was told early on that I can’t ______ (go ahead and fill in the blank yourself because the list of things I wouldn’t be able to do was too long for this short post). And I conformed. I followed what I was told and I watched others sail past in their happy lives, wondering why they were getting so much further ahead.

I need to learn to break the rules once in a while. There are still rules that are good to follow, that benefit everyone; but we need to decide for ourselves which rules matter, and which don’t. We need to decide for ourselves what we can’t do, and what we can do.

And so this is why I’m breaking the rules. This is why I’m posting for the second time about the word of the day. And if you’ve read this far please tell me, why did you read this post?

This post is in response to the daily writing prompt Warning

58 thoughts on “Warning – Do Not Read This Post!”

  3. I read it because I know there can be nothing harmful. I would obviously not do the same for the danger sign on acid bottles or on electric poles.

    Hahaha… you are not going to emerge out of the screen to scold me nor will a monster come out of it. Just kidding… 😂😂😂

    We do such things when we know there is no harm and we all trust you. Everytime it’s not the same situation.

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    1. As I was writing this one of my favorite children’s books came to mind…The Monster at the End of this book. In the book Grover is afraid of the title so begs the reader on every page not to turn the page…And every time you do he gets more scared. It turns out he’s the monster at the end of the book. Sometimes what we are afraid of isn’t scary at all. Lol

      But my favorite part of your response was “we all trust you”…I have to admit that I choked up reading that. Trust is a big deal…And you’re right, people who have read my posts will know that there won’t be anything bad in it. I’m not posting things that are explicit or gory or vile. And so that is an excellent point I hadn’t thought of. 😁

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      1. Yup. We donot react the same way for even the same thing. It depends on the situation and people associated.

        Don’t we say little children not to eat anything from strangers even if they are nice? It’s all a matter of trust.

        Sometimes we get away even after doing something that was a risk but repeating that makes us repay one day. That day doesn’t come with a knock.

        Trust is a big thing and it only comes with time while experience teaches us what or who to trust. Taking risks is fine only if you trust yourself and firmly believe you can come back even in the worst case.

        Thus trust is in everything, be it doing something when you trust others or when you take risk as you trust yourself.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. I recall reading about a research study where they told one group of participants not to think about white bears, and said nothing bear-related at all to the other group of participants. Guess which group thought more about white bears?

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  14. As they say curiosity killed the cat, but in your case curiosity made me to read a beautiful blog. I read it because your posts are always unique and I knew I won’t be disappointed. Keep writing and keep shining 😊🌸

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  15. I’ve already written my post for today. Perhaps you saw it already, or maybe you haven’t scrolled down that far yet. You should look for it. It was brilliant. I have nothing else to say. There is no reason to read this.

    Now, look, you’ve already learned that a warning not to read a post is guaranteed to elicit a ‘read’ response, so why didn’t you use the same technique for your ‘brilliant’ post (which I now have no incentive to read). Shame on you.

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    1. 😂 hehehe right? For the record this post marked “do not read” had far more views than my other post yesterday…And has far exceeded the number of comments on any of my posts so far! Ironically I had no intention of writing this one. Funny how things happen sometimes. The next time I have something important to say I’m going to use this again!

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  17. Pingback: *Press it* Warning – Do Not Read This Post! #28 | Its good to be crazy Sometimes

  18. My banal behavioral economist answer is that I read the post because you *did* actually post it, warning header or not. Thus, using the Gricean Maxims (specifically the Cooperative Principle and Principle of Quality), I deduced that you actually *did* want me to read the post after all. You probably didn’t just fail at your privacy settings or something 😉

    My deeper, more philosophical answer is that circumventing rules and power dynamics that have caused far more harm in my life then good has been, quite literally, a survival mechanism. I am writing to you about behavioral economics and how we signal what is truly “allowed” and “not allowed” because I learned the rules well enough to break them before it was too late, thus leaving me whole enough in mind and heart to recite the rules of conversations to you instead of quivering in a corner somewhere…

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    1. Well I’m glad you’re not quivering in a corner! When I wrote this post I actually had no idea there was going to be a point. I literally got to the part that says “I have nothing left to say” and thought that’s where it would end. But it turns out there was a point and it has become one of my favorites!

      So you’re right…It wasn’t a technology fail…And I’m glad you stumbled on it!

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