Last updated on March 31st, 2021 at 01:51 pm
The only ones in control of ourselves is ourselves. The actions we take, the reactions we make—they’re all linked to how we wish to be connected to the world and the value we wish to impart unto everything around us.
Sometimes we react far too quickly. We all have buttons that people (sometimes unintentionally) push time and time again, whether we know what they are or not. But it’s how we choose to react that makes all the difference. Some of us are hot-tempered. Some of us have the patience of ancient masters of Zen and chi. But it can make the difference between an argument and a conversation.
Have you ever said something stupid and wish that you could take it back? Sometimes we open our mouths and get ourselves into unnecessary trouble. I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of times I wish I could go back in time by 30 seconds and tell myself to shut up because I won’t want the consequences of the weight my words hold. But there’s some of us who’re worse repeat offenders than others. We all know them—people who never seem to find the right thing to say, forever making any social interaction, whether individually or in a group, horribly awkward, and not giving the incentive to want to have them happen again anytime soon.
How do we solve the horrors that come when we speak without thinking? When we act without common sense?
We stop. We think. We strive to understand one another so we can avoid going into situations preparing for fights that aren’t even there.
We can’t change anything that’s outside of our control—there will be things that piss us off. Things that’ll make our list of pet peeves as life goes on. The world will never cease to challenge and frustrate us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. But by using the tools that’e given to us, such as common sense and adaptability, and further developing ones that we could work on, such as our patience and restraint, we can change enough of us as a whole—through changing ourselves—to change the way we all interact with each other.
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