In the full spirit of this blog, Easily Provoked, I was recently provoked by someone I was talking with. That's my life, thinking about what other people say to me. Sometimes the train comes to screeching stop on the tracks. I try and not give myself away but I am in a state of suspended animation. My brain has come to a complete stop. I may or may not hear what is being said after that moment, but I am definitely making a note of what was said. Sometimes it may be the way something is said or the complete confidence a person may have. I try and gather the whole picture when possible.
Real conversation and interaction with people are the most enjoyable experiences of my days. Reality is more entertaining than fiction or Fakebook posts. Strip away the fluff and give me the raw interaction. Give it to me straight. Be yourself. In my job I don't have the luxury to talk only to people I like or love or really want to. I talk to everybody. You can either learn to like it or get a xanax script.
Let's get back to the provoker I mentioned who provoked me. I know him well. We talk often. I know and understand where his thoughts and motivations come from. We have all gone through a lot the last couple years and we have all handled it in our own way. My friend I am speaking about has been more than a little worried about the pandemic and impending sickness and death all around him. He had a bout with covid himself. He has been worried about his friends and family getting sick, wanting everyone to be careful. It was no small situation in his mind.
We are having a chat and I tell him that the restrictions are being lifted and normal life may be soon approaching here. He says to me that that is great, but now we may have a nuclear war with Russia. From one fear to the next. Without skipping a beat. Every gear turning in my little brain stopped when I heard this. After two years of struggle, and craziness this is the reward our society receives. He is not unusual. He is like many others. We are bombarded with messages of fear daily.
My fellow Americans, you've lived through the first pandemic of your lifetime. If you managed to keep your sanity you may notice we are on the brink of war in a couple places and don't forget certain financial doom. A couple people are certain Hillary Clinton is running for president again bringing the Illuminati New World Order and Satan Worship to Washington DC. I do know one thing for sure, you worrying about any of the above will not change one thing.
A lot of us lived through the Cold War and were served a steady diet of nuclear war fear. Mushroom cloud images are forever burned into my mind. Fallout like snow flakes will float to the ground while the whole power grid goes down and we are instantly set back 200 years in time with no technology. I know one thing, all the worry in the world did not change my life for the better or prevent the war. For the record I don't want war or suffering for anyone. My point is when you are in fear of the impending doom you cease to live. What a sad way to live, wasting your days in fear and not living your life to the fullest.
I am learning in realtime one of the most valuable lessons of my life. It is simply to control what you can control. Fix what is at your level of ability to fix. Take care of your responsibilities. What you cannot control should not control you. Dare I say, it doesn't make you a better human being because your level of concern is greater than others. Watching people suffer unnecessarily over things they have no control over is painful for me now. How many of the fears they speak of never come to pass or are a creation of their own habit of being fearful?
Be honest with yourself and you will acknowledge that many times we have wasted energy on scenarios we create in our minds that never have come true. Why do we do this? Rumors in the workplace are the worst. Fear spreads like a virus from one person to another until everyone is worried and miserable. It is universal.
Do what you can do. Control what you can control. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite. Oh no, now I have to look for bed bugs.............