The "I Told You So" Syndrome, Yes It's A Pet Peeve

There's this popular phrase called "I Told You So." The phrase usually comes right after you do something bad that someone had already informed you about. It could be the fine guy you were ready to give your heart to. He crushed your heart into a tiny pieces and then someone came out of nowhere and said "I told you so." Or it could be that vacation you've desperately wanted to take.

That vacation could be in Jamaica, Hawaii, or even California. However, someone or many people don't see the point in you take one little vacation to rest your mind. They constantly degrade your idea and tell you all the bad things that could come along with it. Things could get expensive, parking is a bitch, people don't know how to drive, it's a huge city, it's unfamiliar territory. They put all the negative ideas in your mind. When you go on the vacation you actually end up having fun. However, you spend a lot of money (your money) and you realize the city really is huge. When they ask you about those things and you tell them they say "I told you so." The purpose of this vacation was for you to relax, but they have to point out all the bad points that were right about. But the fact that they say "I told you" so isn't the point of this post.

Long before the phrase "I told you so" was created there was something much worse. It was the original creation of this awful syndrome. It was the idea that something could go wrong. I think it started somewhere around the time when Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden. Eve wanted to eat that apple from the the forbidden tree. Adam continuously said "I don't think it's a good idea. You shouldn't touch it."

Pause: How did Adam know it was bad to eat the apple if neither of them knew about emotions or wrongdoings before eating the apple? After all, it contained "life."

Adam intimidated Eve with his words. Eve was scared to eat the delicious apple at first because a big fear had been created around it. Damn, those fears that others try to cast upon us. After thinking it over, Eve finally did it. She got that juicy apple and bit into it. After biting into it and discovering "life" she couldn't be alone. She found a way to talk Adam into eating it too by giving him some of that fear he'd given her.

But while that was so long ago that none of us were born, the intimidation tactic that leads of to "I told you so" occurs on a daily basis. I remember my freshman year of college some friends wanted to plan a cruise. I would be just a few of us on a Disney cruise or whatever else we could find that was nice and affordable. We talked about it with lots of excitement. Then I talked to my parents about it. My mom was against it. She claimed that everything bad in the world would happen to me. She even went as far as to say the thought of it made her sick to her stomach. Some might call that being protective, but now that I'm older it was actually really fucked up. It was an intimidation tactic to keep me from actually doing something new. Many young people go on these trips and absolutely nothing goes wrong. But in my case, I wasn't even given an opportunity to explore this plan. It ended exactly where it started.

See, the biggest problem with these intimidation tactics and the "I told you so" syndrome is some people try new stuff and then their plans or adventures ended up failing. Something goes wrong. Somebody spends too much money, someone moves to a new place and doesn't like it, someone has a hard time building their career, or someone gets shot because they're in the right place at the wrong time. However, these circumstances to not happen to everyone.

In fact as much as I hate the "I Told You So," syndrome, there's another pet peeve that I hate. It's the one that occurs after the intimidation tactics have stopped and you actually succeeded or had a great time doing exactly what you want. It's the "I knew you'd be great" syndrome. But wait, isn't the same people that says "I knew you'd be great" same person that was angry and ready to say "I told you so?" See the problem.