When I was 19, I met a beautiful young woman named Omeesha. I had met Omeesha at a house party where we connected and had a good night of conversation. At the end of the night, we exchanged cell numbers and continued our conversations on WhatsApp the day after. After a week of chatting, Omeesha stopped responding to my messages in quick order like she used to…Of course my paranoia kicked in and I had to fight it back with some rationality. I said to myself “eh, she’s busy and I don’t know her life.” So, I kept my feelings in check and assumed everything was alright.
LOL 😂 Boy, was I wrong! Omeesha stopped replying to my messages and eventually, I had given up on our interactions. As you can see already, my readers…I, was ghosted!👻 Now that I look at, I have ghosted a few people as well…😅 If any of you few are reading this, then I would like to extend a sincere apology to you.
Now, what does it mean to ghost someone? Considering the fact that this term originates from popular culture, thus giving it slang status, I will be using a definition from the best source for slang definitions — The Urban Dictionary!
Although the terminology is new, the behaviour certainly is not. Perhaps the oldest incidents of ghosting can be seen in the relationships between men and women, where after men receive sexual intercourse from women, they tend to disappear either immediately or after they have found out that the woman is pregnant. Now that we know what ghosting is, let us find out why it happens.
The mind of the Ghoster
Upon being ghosted, I pondered Omeesha’s thought processes for a week. Now, I do not remember the explanation that I attributed to her behaviour…I just remember that I moved on.😪 Pondering the mind of the Ghoster is the common thought process that us Ghostees undergo.
Ghosters are primarily looking at their own emotional wellbeing and unfortunately, this leaves little to no room for your feelings. What I realise in my generation, and the one after us, is that many of us are afraid to be vulnerable, which results in this avoidance mentality that in some circles, is seen as ‘cool.’ Quite frankly, it reveals an emotional immaturity that plagues us. However, I won’t be too hard on us, because heartbreak hurts. We have all experienced it at least once in our lives and that makes us run from the thought of it like an escaped convict. Oh! By the way, ghosting is not unique to Gen-Z, as the terminology was birthed before we were of dating age. 😶
This fear of vulnerability and/or inability to process emotions, can result in poor communication from the Ghoster, to the Ghostee. Communication is a word that is overused and oftentimes misunderstood. Additionally, it’s steps are hardly carried out in full. And, you see these Ghosters? Yeah, they suck at it. Many Ghosters think “I don’t want to hurt them…” or “How do I let them down gently?” When these burning questions are met with their fear of a bad interaction, the result is their disappearance act. Simultaneously, it is SO funny, because they pretended as if everything was alright, and now they are gone without a trace…as if that does not hurt more! Lord, the cognitive dissonance sure jumped out. For those who do not know, a cognitive dissonance is when our actions and beliefs do not align and this results in a negative state of being.
Life is so hard and complicated, yet we make it harder on ourselves and those around us…Therefore, would a little honesty hurt that much? Would you like it to be done to you? If you are about to be Ghoster, please think about that before you ghost someone.
What should you do after being Ghosted?
I will tell you that being ghosted is not easy. The feelings of self-doubt burst through like a dam overflowing with water; the self-loathing, self-deprecating — everything negative relating to self, just comes tumbling down like an avalanche. We as human beings value ourselves based on our social interactions. It is through these interactions, coupled with our own inherent beliefs, that we construct our concepts of self, a.k.a. our self-esteem. Therefore, when we put ourselves out there, we are wrapping ourselves like little cellophane covered gifts, for our prospects to see us for who we are. Aaaaaand when they sh!t on that…ouch! 🙃 So, what should you do after being ghosted?
Firstly, accept that it happened and take a stock of your cognitive trio: your feelings, thoughts and behaviours. Our feelings affect our thoughts, our thoughts affect our behaviours and our behaviours affect our feelings. Therefore, by evaluating our thoughts and feelings, we can better keep our behaviours in check! So, those feelings of low self-esteem that birth or coincide with thoughts of inferiority? Yeah, I need you to expel those with every fibre of your being. Because those, if left unchecked, can result in you being depressed and…we don’t want that, right? 😄
Secondly, take the time and express any negative emotions such as sadness and anger. Additionally, you can call some friends for that extra support. Considering the fact that you were dating, it means that you probably have other prospects in your line-up. If so, before moving onto them, you need to sort yourself out first. Although dating someone for a month or less, was not a relationship, you had begun to invest feelings, time and energy into these interactions. This is why when you are ghosted, it hurts so much. Therefore, should you move onto another prospect, ensure that these negative emotions are dealt with so that it can be as smooth sailing as possible.
My dear Ghostee, I want you to know that you are enough. I want you to know that you are attractive. To quote Viola Davis’ character from The Help: “you is smart, you is kind, and you is important” Your worth should not be measured by the inconsiderate and inconsequential actions of someone you have known for less than a month or for whatever short span of time. It is time to dust yourself off, re-evaluate your plan of action and get back on that horse. Because love is one hell of a ride, and this…is your rodeo.
What do you guys think of ghosting? Have it ever happened to you? Let me know in the comments down below! Also, I would like to give a shout-out to the reader who recommended this topic! Thanks Dellan from St. Lucia!
Taf Speaks 
Hey, Dellan and thanks for sharing! 😂. As usual, you always bring outside of the box perspectives to the conversation. When we look at it objectively, it is funny indeed; both funny and foolish. But nonetheless, as you know, we can’t see that perspective when the hurt fills us.
Ghosting is definitely not unique to dating either, so thanks for mentioning it from that angle. I think ample communication prior to ending things, is best or at least fair. I do understand that there are some situations where it seems impossible. For those scenarios, one could argue that communication could prevent a bad situation… Likewise, that ending communication, could RESULT in an equally terrible situation.
Alas, it’s one of these things we have to navigate in life. Nevertheless, where we can be kinder to each other, we should.
LikeLike
Hi, I am Dellan from St. Lucia and I am a ghoster. lol
Okay, so the ghosting situation may not be funny. After all you just lost time (the only currency you are born with), energy and an investment of feelings. All three of these things are constantly a work in progress no matter what stage you are in life. However my lol is not a sign of immaturity.
I laughed because ghosting really is funny if you think about it. Why? Because it proves the point that we are ALL scared of each other (a.k.a being vulnerable, like the blog post said). Therefore, we look pretty stupid getting bent out of shape for the fact that we want to be liked by people or ourselves (don’t even try to lie about it), so we graffiti ourselves with clothing and make-up and hair styles and various personality traits or virtues, just for someone who is as messed up as we are. Lol and that is very funny when you step outside the situation and see how ridiculous we are as human beings. Then again perspective is a bitch so you might not vibe with this one.
Anyways, despite being a ghoster, I have also been ghosted, by a lover, a friend (at least i thought they were), as well as a family member. So I don’t believe it’s specific to the dating world. However, through experiencing both sides, I acknowledge ghosting as a humbling experience. From the fear that comes with committing the act to the pain that imbues from receiving the void of a connection. So, I no longer take it to seriously because I know it will always be a constant in life (I mean even our own pets ghost us sometimes). Plus ghosting can also happen without you even trying.
In conclusion, I will end by saying if you believe you can have a mature conversation with someone instead of ghosting them. Yow definitely go for that shyd. However, there really are some people you might come across that you just need to walk away from (no signals or warnings given). If you don’t believe me, then you haven’t met one yet.
peace.
#casper
LikeLiked by 1 person
As a ghostee myself, this is helpful and reassuring that I wasn’t the problem. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I generally don’t just ghost you. I’m brazen and will tell you upfront that I want to be left alone. If you keep texting me after that, I’m just not going to respond.
If I’ve actually just ghosted someone, I probably kept putting off responding to the message for so long that it just didn’t even make sense to respond by the time I got around to it. That said, I have waited 30 days to respond to a text message before. 😂 Sadly, I do this quite often. 🤧
I’ve been ghosted before but most people actually come back around to say why. In relationships in my younger years, guys said they felt more for me than they wanted to and just felt it was best to be a dick and stop talking to me. Some felt intimidated. I’ve also been ghosted by people and not realised. Months go by and I finally realise I haven’t heard from them and then it doesn’t really matter because phones work both ways and I didn’t reach out to them either.
My bestie did ghost me last year though. Big ghost. He was supposed to fly with me to the Maldives and cancelled 7 days before, after I already booked our hotel rooms. After that, he stopped talking to me because he knows my mouth and was terrified of the lashing he felt was coming. Funny enough, I had no desire to lash out at him. I was pissed, but when I’m REALLY pissed, I have nothing to say to you. Well that was last September and yesterday, I found out he has COVID-19. I texted him and told him to make sure he survives long enough for me to chip the two claats he’s owed in person. He lives out west, which is where I was headed before Miss Rona ruined my plans. He did respond, so I guess ghosting doesn’t have to be forever. 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, I swear you have some stories!!! Thanks for putting out another perspective for this topic! Some of ghost each other without realizing, and these reasons aren’t aligned with the ones mentioned above. So it’s a complex thing for real 🤔
I’m glad you and bestie is cool; I await to hear the claats you’ll chip at him 😂😂
LikeLike
I’ve lived quite a life so far. Imagine the next 30. 😂 I’ll let you know how the claat-chipping goes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sigh, we bad at communication…we real bad. Sometimes it aint even on purpose. Confrontation stresses us out. On behalf of the rest, we apologize 😓
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the first step towards a positive behavioural change. I can safely assume that conflict resolution styles such as avoidance, play a big role in how many of us communicate with each other. It isn’t easy, but if we can be better to each other, then just maybe relationships wouldn’t be so hard.
Thanks for commenting and sharing! I hope to see you again!
LikeLiked by 1 person