Counting blessings can deflect barrage of daily irritations .
When you get older one of the things you look forward to is that mythical state of mind where things that once bothered you no longer do. In theory, you mellow out and all the stuff you used to get het up about when you were younger -- from the hotness factor of your desired sweetheart to other people's opinions of you -- no longer matter. Which means you're happier, right? That may well be the case ... that is, during those brief times when everything and its mama isn't irritating the heck out of you. It seems that for everything you used to freak out over but don't anymore, there's something that at one time didn't bother you, but now does ... things you fervently pray or wish didn't bother you, but which drive you absolutely batty. Like crowds. You think you can handle that mall or that festival, but you find yourself irritated by the teeming, jostling crowds. So you go to ordinarily crowded places during times they're not crowded. But then you get irritated because everybody in the place is asking you over and over again if you need something. Like grocery shopping. The food is way too expensive. And whenever you choose to go shopping, so does everybody else, so you've got people either trying to walk on top of you or you've got people who happen to need to come and ponder which pickles to buy just as you happen to be standing there pondering which pickles to buy, or vice versa. Then comes time to check out ... the time you get behind somebody with a problem or simply pick the slowest line. Like celebrities. As you wait in the slow checkout line, you peruse the magazines and see that some celebrities are doing mind-blowingly stupid things. So you get irritated at that. And at celebrity gossip mags, period. Like drivers. You get in your car and find yourself irritated by the people who drive too slowly and carefully as well as the people who drive too fast and too recklessly. And the people who drive somewhere in between. Like television. Needless to say, you're irritated by 98 percent of what's on TV, so you're paying somewhere in the three figures to just watch HGTV, the History Channel, maybe the Smithsonian Channel. And you're irritated with your pay-TV bill. Like the folks who text, email or otherwise electronically message you and tell you to call them rather than just explaining what they need in their electronic message. Or when they message late at night, during weekends or in the midst of your vacation. Or the folks who respond days late to a text you sent, causing you to try to figure out what the heck you were discussing in the first place. Like the gross or soft-porn images (usually of women) and silly links that seem to be in the margins every time you are trying to read a news story online. You get even more irritated when you fall for one of the silly links and click on it, see another silly link and click on it, too, resulting in a slow-running computer and "unresponsive script" messages. Like the nightly news. And elections. 'Nuff said. And, most of all, like those doggone irritable people who always snap at everybody. For those of us in the Middle Ages or older, curmudgeonliness may be symptomatic of physical issues that can get serious, and we'd do well to keep an eye on ourselves and practice more healthful habits. For those of us whose irritation stems from menopausal causes, we'd do well to just hibernate for oh, about five years, and spare people our wrath. And, as suggested on a website that wasn't laden with soft-porn images. We can always be compassionate with ourselves: "Acknowledge (in your head) that you feel really irritable -- and how unpleasant it is. Then imagine getting a hug from someone who cares about you. Or count those blessings ("Take a few minutes to remind yourself of ... the things that are going well in your life and the things for which you can be grateful"). And, we can always clear our heads by getting outside for a nice run or walk. That is, if those people hogging the walking trail would only get out of the waaaaaay!
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