Do you ever get ticked off about something and wonder why no one else is? It could be at work, personal life, something in the media or just something you see a stranger do in your day to day travels. I like to view myself as a happy person however I feel I am coming down with an anger management problem. The thing is, I don’t know if this is an actual problem or a reaction to the events that surround me.
Let’s explore this:
Leaving the local grocery store you see someone leave their cart blocking a parking spot, the cart return just a few steps away. Most of us would get pissed off when the lot was full and there is a cart in the only available spot. What if you see a nice new ding in your car from a runaway cart? You may come up with some new words for the person that left it there. Here’s your chance! There’s the lazy, no good, (insert expletives here) placing this ticking stress time bomb (cart). What are you going to do about it? Nothing, nothing at all. It’s not in your way now. You are leaving, no chance to ding your vehicle. It’s not your problem. In fact, I would bet most of us wouldn’t even notice this lone cart.
Obviously with everything going on in the world today, a shopping cart ranks pretty low on the importance scale. Or does it?
If this a work situation your boss would be all over you. ”How could just leave that widget there? (with possible other chewing out words.)” Maybe because you are paid to move that widget or is it that your boss knows you and has less problems confronting you because of that.
So if you see your friend leaving the cart behind, would you say “Hey Steve, you’re not just going to leave that there are you?” Would you put it back for them and mention something next time you see them?
I think the closer we are to the person or event the more we react to the situation. If you see a kid throwing trash onto the ground you say nothing. If it’s your kid, a slap in the ass is in the future. (However I am sure someone will have no problem telling you that slapping your kids ass for littering is not right and they are going to report you to child services.) So as you can see, most of us feel it’s ok to question someone’s parenting skills however will not ask someone to pick up their litter or put away a shopping cart.
I believe we are getting mad at the wrong things and ignoring those that should really piss us off.
This brings me to my recent reaction to something at work that got me thinking about this. No need for details, however I may have had a bit of a adult temper tantrum with a co-worker. I was right about the situation, wrong on how I handled it. The effect of this led to a rift between the other employee and myself. The next task is to repair this with him in a way where I can apologize for being mad and yet still let him know that I was right to be mad. (I will let you know how this works out.)
Now, here’s something that may leave you a bit bothered:
This guy got 2 DWI’s, the same day, at the same Mcdonalds. This guy hits the car in front of him at the drive through. Gets arrested for DWI and released to a “sober person” The same guy is arrested 4 hours later at the same Mcdonalds after (allegedly) hitting the building and driving off. How in the heck does the “sober” person let him get behind the wheel again? Should the “sober” person be responsible for the second time? I would think that being released to this person would put him in their care. At least for a short period of time. What if this was a family and not a building? BS if you ask me. McDonalds got sued in the past for Hot coffee. This is a few steps beyond that.
So, here comes some questions for you and myself.
- What is something in your everyday life that makes you mad that you just ignore, and probably shouldn’t?
- When is the last time you were mad at something that you completely overreacted to? If you were right, did you still apologize for the overreaction?
- What are some tricks you use to not show your anger in a situation that is not acceptable, even though you have a right to be ticked off.
Since this is my first blog, I do welcome any insight from you. I am looking to share things that I notice that we all should get a little bit more red in the face about. I also am looking for a little self therapy. Ways to deal with the day to day stress that life brings with a smile on my face.
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