People cause people stress everyday. Stranger to stranger, friend to friend, family member to family member. On the road, in grocery stores, on line, anywhere we go in public, can turn into a potential stressful experience.
Driving behind slow people is super frustrating. Is it just me or do people in old pick up trucks drive extra slow? Driving in construction zones, super stressful; slow moving school zones, traffic due to accidents, all of it is stressful.
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I shared in my first Stress Series blog: "Just say No!" that I grew up in New York and the traffic I experienced on a daily basis caused me tremendous amounts of stress, especially when I drove in the City of New York. Parking caused an additional stress.
However, without a choice, you get in the car and pull the blanket of stress tight over your essence, inviting it into your life each morning, everyday of your life.
Moving away melted so much anxiety from my life, but even after twelve years away, I still get shell shocked under certain circumstances. It is inside me, part of who I am and how I was raised.
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How do I cope? I stay calm, identify the cause of the stress and remind myself I have no place I need to be in a hurry. We will all get there when we get there. I also remove the hustle in my day by being mindful not to leave late, and make an effort to be early or at the least on time, to wherever I am going.
Slow drivers, slow traffic, unpredictable accidents will not hurt or change my life. Of course, I experience less mayhem living out of a major city, so I really have limited stress these days with regard to driving. I very much appreciate my quality of life, and I do not take it for granted.
In other areas of life, people will get in the way of my calm resolve, however I literally try to avoid people I do not know, people who would otherwise be in my way. This may have something to do with my close proximity issues. (See "Just say No!)
True story: Shopping in Walmart always causes me some level of stress at any point in my shopping experience. Maybe it's the demographic of people who shop there, the People of Walmart website is a tell tale sign.
I shop there because I am guaranteed to save money, as many people do, despite the shopping experience. Heaven help me if I am with my kids, this will compound my bad experience, creating a new layer of stress.
I am quite aware of all these facts before each trip to Wally World, so I only go with adequate mental preparation. I will most certainly always experience the following in Walmart:
1. A slow walking person with a cart unaware I am behind them with my cart.
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2. A cart traffic jam with someone in a scooter causing it.
3. A screaming child (not mine)
4. A person standing in the middle of the aisle looking at their phone unaware they are in the way.
5. Slow old people everywhere, taking their time to pick out their food while I wait for them to move. Normally spotted in the meat section or the dairy section. (All I want is some creamer!!)
By this time I want to scream, "Hurry up and MOVE!!"
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1. I avoid aisles with too many people.
2. If I absolutely need to grab something in an overpopulated aisle, I abandoned my cart, weave around the people traffic, get what I need, all fast and furious.
3. If I spot someone taking their time in a section I really need to get to, I will totally skip it and come back. If I stand and wait, it will only make the person take longer which is even more frustrating.
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| Courtesy of People of Walmart.com |
I have actually used a scooter once when I had foot surgery a year ago. I will sympathize with scooter drivers, no one moves out of their way, so it's a self perpetuating cycle of scooter/cart traffic. Ridiculous from all perspectives.
5. If there is a long, slow checkout line I read a bad gossip magazine and remind myself there are worse things in life than standing on line in Walmart reading trashy magazines.
Life is funny, and when it's not, I will make it funny.
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