I met with a coworker I’d connected with for a few beers after he’d been fired. The guy had a tough and complicated life, family neglected him, spent time in an abusive school for “troubled kids”, then joined the military. In getting to know him/hearing his stories, I feel like I’ve definitely noticed some lingering PTSD having killed some people in combat. But deep down I connected with the guy immediately became close buds at work, was an awesome guy who left that impact on everyone at work. It wasn’t until I’d met up with him for a couple of beers that I (1) connected with/befriended him even further but (2) that there were some weird seemingly imperceptible instances based on the friendly convo, where my gut was telling me “holy shit you need to be able to knock this guy out if push comes to shove”. It startled me, I’d never had a thought like that with anyone I’d met, or a sort of simulation of how my first throw of a punch would work out if things got out of hand. Everything we talked about was positive, just good advice from a new buddy to another. But intuitively there was something there. Idk what I picked up on, I don’t know why exactly I was thrown into those ideas that if need be I need to make sure I can take him in a fight, but deep down I think my subconscious was picking up on something my conscious brain couldn’t conceive of given our pleasant interactions. Idk I’m just curious if anyone’s felt the same gut feeling? Was it warranted? Were you being paranoid/reading into it too much? Was it the right call and you picked up on something you weren’t consciously aware of? Just want to hear some thoughts submitted by /u/bheltz
Originally posted by u/bheltz on r/AskMen