Be kind to the grumpy. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle.
I have always tried to be cheery and happy despite things going wrong in my life, even in hard times. But lately it seems like everyone has been so grumpy, everywhere I go. I find myself repeating old isms my parents used to repeat about how much nicer people were when they were young, or how much better it was when...
But lately I have been trying hard to stop with the old isms and understand that in this kind of economy, everyone is going to be grumpy. Most people are scared to death, most all of us are fighting some kind of battle.
A few times in the last couple of weeks I found myself so aggravated that I actually snapped back at a sales person, after trying really hard on two separate trips to deal with an issue. I couldn't believe I had done that and felt really bad. It made me wonder after I got home, what kind of battle this woman was fighting that caused her to be outright rude two days in a row to me when I really was trying to be reasonable back.
If we continue the fight of our own battles outside of our own homes, and snap back, we only spread the negativity out further and make it worse. I keep thinking about that encounter and wonder what I should have done instead of return a second day in hopes there would be someone else there, or try again to be nice. She was clearly angry. Maybe I should have given her a big hug and said I hate my life too? Walk away a second time?
This morning I wrote a note to myself to post in my car, Be kind to the grumpy. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. From now on I am going to try to be kinder than ever. We are all struggling with our own battles, no matter how small of big.
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