What I learned while spending my day trying to register for the Lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon:
1. There are a lot of angry people in this world.
2. I used to be one of them.
The SeaWheeze half marathon is an exciting half marathon combined with a yoga/sunset festival that happens annually in Vancouver in late August. This year will be it’s third year and the hype is bigger and better than ever. I excitedly bookmarked my calendar back in September last year and counted down the days until today, January 23 when I could register for the run that would take place in August (eager I know!). There are just over 10,000 spots and registration opened at 10am my time so by 9:30am I was ready to go and waiting patiently. By 10:01 am the registration server had crashed from what I can only imagine were hundreds or thousands of people from all over the world trying to register for this one event. I know my sister in Toronto was trying to register at the same time as well, and soon enough on their official Facebook page, angry comments from people all over the world in many different time zones were pouring in, many repeating the same thoughts, voicing their frustration and in some cases just downright being mean.
If you have ever worked in a job where you have to provide excellent customer service (aka most jobs) then you know that some people can be nasty and rude and be upset about the smallest things and will take their anger out on you without thinking twice about the consequences of their actions. I’m ashamed to say that I have been one of these people. I didn’t lash out at others often for silly reasons, but when I would get angry over the smallest things I would always regret knowing that I made someone else feel horrible.
All of that brings me to this: why is it that people get angry when things don’t go their way and why do some feel it is okay to take their anger out on other people? Often our anger and frustration are related to selfish reasons (in this case, not being able to register ourselves immediately for an event). I’ve learned in the past couple of years to do my best to let go of the negative energy that results in negative feelings. While a few years ago I would have been just as frustrated and ticked off to have spent 3 hours trying to register for an event online, today I laced up my shoes and went for a run in gorgeous weather. Every inhale I felt blessed to be breathing clean, cool air. Every exhale I marvelled at how efficiently my body could transport and exchange oxygen with carbon dioxide (nerdy I know..). I felt the sun on my skin, the beads of sweat on my face and I just felt really lucky in that moment to be healthy, happy and alive.
I’m not saying that I’m always calm and happy and everyone should strive to be like me. I still get mad and frustrated at times but when I do I try to just think about the consequences of my actions and realize that upsetting someone else by voicing my anger won’t make me feel better. So for now I will look forward to tomorrow when I will hopefully be able to successfully register for SeaWheeze 2014!
Something else I learned this week?
I need to stay away from all-you-can-eat buffets.
Ugh I’m embarrassed at how much I binged on sushi and tempura on Monday. I was so full after that I had to sit there for a good 30 minutes before the pain in my fully distended abdomen subsided just enough for me to walk home. Never again.
Let’s end this post on a sweet note! Life is like a box of macarons (courtesy of the awesome french patisserie I work at :D). You never know what you’re gonna get!
p.s. I even shared. The macarons, I mean
xo,
Lianna
