Jump to page: 1 2
Yesterday, the world owed me something.
At some point, I decided I was in the biggest hurry I’d ever been in. I had nowhere to be, just a laundry list of items I wanted to get done before the day was over.
The day started out nicely.
I tweaked and perfected my to-do list for the day. It’s the first thing I do every morning when I wake up. Yesterday’s list was particularly long.
Around 2PM everything was going ahead of schedule. I was ahead on my tasks and by the looks of it, would even have some time that evening to relax.
Around 3PM my list was down to six tasks, most of which involved shopping. Yes, everything was going perfectly.
I hurriedly walked through Costco, gathering a few things I needed. I could have done it blind, I’ve made that trip so many times. Faster than expected, I had my items, I surveyed the checkout lines, and I chose the line that would get me through fastest.
In front of me was a woman with ten or so items. In front of her was a man with nothing but a mattress set. And that’s when I started getting mad at the world.
After all, the world owed me something yesterday.
The checker gave the man his total. “That’s not right,” he said.
I quietly groaned. Just pay for your damn mattress, I thought.
He then spent ten minutes disputing the total with the checker, the store manager, and other employees who wandered onto the scene. I verbally groaned a couple times. I stood on the end of the conveyer belt, grasped both sides, and stared at the man who never once looked my way.
I watched as the other lines moved people through like they were on assembly lines. Still, I was stuck. I contemplated moving to the next line over. It was too long. Surely this would be over soon. When it wasn’t, I became more agitated.
You’re ruining my to-do list, I angrily thought in the customer’s direction. He was part of the world. And the world owed me something.
The checker turned toward the woman in front of me. “I am so sorry,” she said.
No you’re not, I thought.
“It’s okay! It happens!” the woman in front of me chirped.
I rolled my eyes. She was as much a part of the problem now as anyone else. And how could she really be that okay with such a violating situation?
Eventually the man left with his mattress. The woman in front of me left with her groceries. I stepped up to the small counter.
You better acknowledge that you just put me into the worst situation ever.
“Sorry that took so long,” she said. I grunted.
In a final act of defiance, and without another word I hurriedly threw my own groceries forcefully into my cart and sped off, just to make sure she knew what a hurry I was in.
The woman at the door took far too long to look at my receipt.
There’s six freaking things in this cart, how long should this take?
A woman began backing out of her parking spot, directly into my line of travel.
I have the right of way, watch it!
I got in my car, pulled out, and headed for the road. Another car backed out in front of me.
You’re in so much of a hurry you couldn’t wait four seconds for me to pass?
I approached the first traffic light. It turned yellow and brought me to a halt. I blamed the person who backed out in front of me. I would have made it, had he not done that.
The next light turned yellow and brought me to a halt. I blamed the timing of the light that preceded this one.
Two minutes later, I pulled into Walmart, unthankful that I found a spot almost at the front.
By the yogurt section, a child reached out from another cart and playfully bumped me with his doll.
Control your child, I thought.
- 1 2
I actually kind of felt like this today.. and after I read this, I calmed down.. and feel stupid. But in a good way I guess? Thanks Dan, for perspective, once again. <3
It's days like this I always need to remember, "Let your heart travel lightly, for what you bring with you becomes a part of the landscape." -Anne Bishop
Ah, Dan...I NEEDED for you to write this post. I saw myself (at least part of the time) in your thoughts and impatience. God bless you for writing your blog. I believe it was meant to touch me today. Thank you.
Gotta love that humble pill! Know what's even better? Recognising it when you see it. Introspection for the win!
Not exactly a humble pie moment, but definitely a "the world simply is not complying to my wishes/moving fast enough" type day - last Thursday (mostly the latter half of it).I had posted this on my FB status after I *finally* made it home after a stressful day of work, etc...Patience was definitely the buzzword of the day for me. First, one of the two new copiers/printers we were trying to configure was having a cow most of the day but finally gave in and let us (me and the Xerox rep) configure it... Bad accident on the highway not far from work (on the way home)... all the back roads in the area were backed up as well.... took me two hours to get to XXXXXX (usually takes about 45 minutes)... then I had to do grocery shopping... the deli was very busy for 7:30pm... then I had a nice wait in the check-out line... traffic and traffic lights everywhere seemed to be conspiring to slow me down wherever possible when all I wanted to do was get home! Finally got all the groceries and such put away around 8:45. I"m so doggone exhausted emotionally and physically, I feel like I could sleep for a week! Things were definitely better the next morning. Even as I was grumbling and mumbling my way through all the various things that were frustrating me, I knew it was no one's fault, and that I just needed to "suck it up, buttercup." :D
sure, but I am working on having less of them.
Let's see, this happen like, every other week to me. Maybe I'm just an angry person. lol
Yesterday, my mom was b**ching and moaning about working extra hard for 10hrs frying chicken and making po-boys for people that haven't had electricity for about a week (we had a visit from Hurricane Isaac last week and there are still some power outages--my mom, on the other hand, was lucky enough to have her power back on within 48hrs of it going out...). She complained that: "You'd think these people would be SICK of eating sandwiches by now!!" Guess what, Mom? I'd be willing to bet that they are! And that, if given the choice, they'd much rather cook up a nice home-cooked meal, on a stove that worked, using fresh ingredients that they had pulled out of their nice cool refrigerator, that was in a house that wasn't 195 degrees in the middle of a Southern Louisiana summer--if only they could turn on those darned lights to see what they were doing! That's what I would have liked to have told her...but I didn't. And here's why:
These comments about her busy day @ work being so ROUGH on her and subsequently causing her to have a BAD day? They were made as I was walking her to her car in the parking lot of the hospital, where she had JUST visited with her best friend (who has become an incredible friend to me over the past few years as well), 10yrs her junior, who had suffered a massive stroke! Every part of me wanted to yell @ her, "At least you are ABLE to move your arms to make those sandwiches for the people who don't have any other options. You are able to SPEAK the words that allow you to complain about your bad day. You are able to WALK to your car, get in it, and drive to your air conditioned home, take a hot shower, and go to bed in your own bed tonight! No matter how bad YOUR day was today, your best friend's day has been considerably worse! Can't you just for a minute be thankful for the things that have gone RIGHT for you today...and every other seemingly BAD day in your life?!?!
Because your best friend will more than likely never have as good a day as she had on the last day that she THOUGHT was a bad day for her!!"
But I didn't! I put her in her car and sent her on her way to her comfortable home. And I stayed with my poor, dear friend until 3:30am, making sure she was well taken-care of, comfortable, and most of all, not scared and alone :( I only went home to get some sleep for a few hours because I had no other option but to come in to work today. The reason I didn't "go off" on my mom for her seemingly selfish comments is two-fold:
1. Some/most people are just selfish and self-centered. And no matter what happens to them or anyone else around them, they are not going to change. It is how they are and they are incapable of thinking of life in any other way but ego-centrically. My mom is one of these people.
2. I believe that our environment is made up of the energy surrounding us. If you put out negative energy, you're going to get negative energy, as will others around you. And yesterday, the universe just didn't need any more bad energy, and I wasn't going to be responsible for putting any more out there!
So, I guess my point in sharing this with you (and all of your readers that take a moment to read this comment) is to say that I'm glad that you were able to have a moment of clarity and recognition, completely on your own, without something catastrophic having to happen in order for you to gain some real perspective. You didn't need the proverbial piano to fall on your head in order for you to snap out of your self-centered curmudgedness and realize that sending negative energy out into the universe is not beneficial to you or anyone else. This is a REMARKABLE feat which the average person may never possess! In fact, it saddens me to know that this clarity and sense of perspective will NEVER present itself to the majority of the human race...even when the piano DOES fall on their head! So kuddos to you, Dan! You get an A+ for being a genuinely wonderful person today!
@RashelleDeJean I'm really pleased to read your comment! It's this sort of introspection that makes the world a better place and your view is a similar one to that which I posted yesterday on my blog http://knightndaze.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/the-world-is-bored-with-your-problems.html . I really hope conscious empathy will catch on with the majority rather than the minority!
I've had many days like this but I TRY(often times with little success) to think that other people could be going through their own issues that day, etc. For instance if a person is a jerk about something they may have just lost a family member and are having a bad day. I lost three of my babies to miscarriage and I know how the loss of children can cause AWFUL times for families. So I just try to think that you never know what other people have been through. Easier said than done many days though.
I do have similar days to the one you had. Everything and everyone pisses me off.
Hope you and your little man have a better day today. : ) BTW, how is Noah enjoying kindergarten? I just sent my oldest to SECOND grade for his first day yesterday. I can't believe how fast kids grow up!
My little man said to me 1 particularly rough morning, "sometimes I just wake up mad, what am I supposed to do about THAT?????" accompanied with the required pre-teen eye roll.. I had to stop myself for a minute before I said, "you know what, you're right, sometimes you do." and go for the much more constructive, "you can turn that around by just deciding to choose happy".. I got a second eye roll.. good way to start the day bwahahahahahaha
Dan - what a great post. We all have days like that....if you REALLY want to make a difference you should take a minute to find out the name of the cashier (from your Costco reciept), and call her and apologize for your attitude. I'm a cashier - you'd be amazed at how much that would change her whole week. Just my two cents :)
There have been many days when it seems like everyone & everything is conspiring against me. If I'm feeling too tired or overwhelmed it's even worse. Most of the time I can shrug it off or laugh, take a deep breath, and go on. When I'm stuck in that long, slow line, I remember the many times I've been that cashier and how hard it can be to deal w/ the public for hours on end. I've even been that customer who slows the line down (although I try hard to have my ducks in a row before I get to check out). I distract myself by smiling at cute babies & letting the moms & dads know that I know it's a challenge to have the kids along on errands, and they don't have to worry about my patience level-they've got a cute kid or 2 to smile and make faces at, afterall! I consider that the elderly woman in front of me may be like my own mother-in-law w/ memory and concentration problems, and has trouble getting her Sh** together. Stuff like that. It works for me. That and there's always the self check-out lines. :)
Wow you got the lesson from this. Getting the lesson probably made you feel better. I'm sure I've been like this, but I've never made the mental leap that I thought the world owed me something and that excessive and growing impatience is what it is. Many times the is the result of my not taking care of my needs being uncomfortable makes me quite cross. Slowing down does help. I like to look at my watch and see if I am late. If I am not I can relax myself.
I think that we all need reminders that we are just not that important in the grand scheme of things. Yesterday I was the OTHER person. I started putting items on the conveyor only to have the harried cashier ask me to not do that, as there was blood on the conveyor that he needed to clean up. So I waited; when a gentleman queued up behind me and kept looking pointedly from me to the conveyor I cheerfully informed him of the reason for the delay. The conveyor got cleaned but the cashier still needed to contact another department, and kept getting the phone tangled up and dropping it as he rang in my order.I asked him, "Having one of those days, huh?" He gave me a wholehearted "YES!", so I assured him, "Relax. I'm not in a hurry. Collect yourself, it will go much better from here on." Just imagine how many grumpy people those poor retail employees see every day!
I have 4 kids, and 3 of them move in their own time. It's a daily occurrence here.
Yes, I have, too many times. I want to be the lady that was in front of you who smiles & patiently waits... But I never am!
That was me this morning. We hit every red light on the way to Lego club for my son. It was his first day at the club and I wanted to get there early so he could acclimate. We ended up getting there 5 minutes late but his friends were there and he went right in all smiles. At that point, I knew, that we were delayed for a reason and that reason was that my son's friends would already be there so he would be relaxed when I left him. :) Sometimes delays happen to us so that bad things don't happen to us. How many times have you been delayed only to see a car accident that "just happened moments before you got there." That is when you realize it could have been you that was hurt. Hang in there and I hope today is better!