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I grabbed a carton of my favorite milk. It expired sooner than I wanted.
Good crap, put milk out that I can buy!
I rounded an aisle. Both sides were blocked by shoppers going in alternate directions.
Can you not see the hurry I’m in? I thought, before they could even notice me.
I finally made it past them only to discover my favorite bread was sold out.
What else can freaking go wrong? I thought as I chose a different brand.
An old woman blocked my lane ahead. I rolled my eyes as I swerved around her.
At the book section, the novel I wanted wasn’t yet on paperback like I had thought it would be. I silently cursed.
They didn’t have the duster replacements that I needed. I verbally cursed.
And then, the worst thing of all.
My checker was too happy.
She giggled. “Are you having a good day today?”
You’re so fake. “I guess so, how about you.” I said it in a, please don’t ask me any more questions, tone.
She then wanted to ask me about the book I was buying.
And comment on the rotisserie chicken as she beeped it.
And ask if I had a fun holiday weekend.
And do everything else she could possibly do to annoy the hell out of me.
And then I passed a bum on the corner. I gave him money last week. This week I wanted him to disappear.
And then I hit another red light.
And another.
And another.
And just as many people were out to get me at the next store.
And just as many at the store after that.
And as I finally pulled into my apartment parking lot, I had to stop behind a moving truck that was awkwardly and temporarily blocking my way while it tried to park.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, I thought.
You see, the world owed me something. And at this point, I only knew that it did and I had no idea what I even wanted anymore.
And as I sat parked behind the moving truck for what couldn’t have been longer than a minute, the weight of my attitude suddenly slapped me.
After all, it was only 72 hours before that the moving truck was mine, and I was making other tenants wait while we awkwardly and temporarily blocked their way while we tried to park it.
Eventually I got past, pulled into my assigned parking space, and I pulled out my phone. As I checked my chores off of my to-do list, I looked at the clock.
I was still way ahead of schedule, just not as ahead of schedule as I would have been had everything lined up the way I wanted it to and if everyone had done everything the way I needed them to do it.
I felt about as big as a rat and far more disgusting.
The world hadn’t done anything and it certainly didn’t owe me anything. It was spinning at the same speed it always was, and the people who had “gotten in my way” were just going at the pace people go at.
Yet there I was, expecting it to revolve around me.
There I was, letting my inability to control it ruin my entire day. I let it take over my thoughts. I let it drown out all the things that were going right for me.
The world didn’t owe me anything, but it gave me something that I hope I remember for a long time to come…
A reminder to slow the heck down sometimes.
Because, you see, happiness can’t run faster than the world around me.
Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
PS. Have you ever had days where you felt like the world owed you something or needed to speed up? Have you ever been force-fed a humble pill like I was?
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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!