I once was standing in the checkout line at a grocery store holding a random assortment of groceries in my arms… while standing in line I was mentally chastising the person in front of me for not moving forward so I could place my items on the checkout belt and release the tension that was built up in my arms. I had a glass container that was starting to slip out of my hand, a gallon of milk I was holding with just one finger which was turning from throbbing to the type of pain where you start to contemplate cutting it off and I had a few heavy items which were uncomfortably pulling at my neck muscles. The person ahead of me had a few items already sitting on the belt with about 2 feet of space in front of their items that was wide open. The person wasn’t doing anything, not talking to anyone, not texting on their phone, not digging through their purse to find money… nothing… just standing there taking up “my” space. During this experience I was disgusted by the person’s lack of awareness over my situation… how could they not see I was holding all of these items? How could they not realize the polite thing to do would be to slide their items forward and make room for my items? My hands were hurting… my neck was hurting… this person was causing me pain! This person was so stupid they couldn’t realize what was going on around them! I was absolutely furious!!! After they began to check out and move forward I finally got to set down my items and I let out a sigh of relief. The physical pain was now relieved but I was still screaming mad that the person hadn’t done the polite thing and moved ahead. The whole time they were checking out I was complaining to myself about the selfishness of the world, about how in my life I have to suffer because of “stupid” people. I kept saying to myself “It’s not fair… these stupid selfish people are ruining it for everyone else and causing me stress… and I just have to deal with it… life sucks.” At last the person had finished checking out and I moved forward to the cashier as my items rolled forward on the belt and, suddenly, I heard a loud thud followed by a “Thank God!” I whipped my head around and a young girl had been holding her groceries the whole time!!! I suddenly realized that while I had been complaining about the person ahead of me I had ended up doing the same thing to the person behind me! I quickly apologized to the young girl, which of course was only for my own satisfaction since my apology did nothing to alleviate her pain or to take away from the fact that I had now become the selfish stupid person that made her life more difficult. I learned a few things from this experience… #1 – If you’re currently judging others for what you perceive to be their mistakes… you better stop and look at yourself first. Instead of thinking who is a burden to you… you should be asking “Am I a burden to anyone else?” #2 – Trying to not be a selfish stupid person in your own actions is going to keep you busy enough… don’t even bother judging others… and simply judging them doesn’t make anything better, it just makes you bitter. #3 – I actually was in complete control of the situation the whole time, but chose not to control it… I could have simply asked the person if they could move their items forward… or better yet, I could have gotten a shopping cart when I walked into the store. ----- In life you are in control. It is not the stupid selfish people around you that cause you stress… the stress comes from YOU not taking control of the situation. If you don’t like what someone is doing bring it to their attention and ask them to stop… if they don’t stop then protect yourself from the situation… whether that means taking charge or simply walking away. The moment you realize that YOU CONTROL YOUR LIFE is the moment you will actually start to have one… there will be no more “If only…” or “I wish I could…” there will simply be what you choose to do and what you choose not to do… nothing more, nothing less… you will be who you want to be, you will have what you want to have, you will live the life that you have created through your choices… Your life will be… YOUR LIFE.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 20:36:49 +0000
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