Adult Learning
I did a good thing yesterday. I got peeved and kept it to myself. That feels like progress. Although, since making the decision last November to stop talking about my pet peeves, I’m fairly certain I still talk about them on occasion. I likely unload on my friends and family, without much thought, whenever one of my pets rears its head. I guess old habits die hard.
But I do believe in the art of being an adult learner, especially in the area of interpersonal relationships, which means I have to question assumptions and parse my actions and judge them by the effects they may be having on those around me. I’ve learned a lot, but I still make classic mistakes. Yesterday, for instance, a friend was talking about his ill mother, and I interjected a story about the time my father was ill. That made the conversation about me, and that’s a no-no. I backed out, but I’m not sure it was fast enough.
But back to my peeves and the decision to keep them to myself. I’ve found that even I don’t much like hearing about them. Partly because entertaining on a pet peeve means I’m feeling irritated, and I don’t enjoy that feeling. Besides, getting irritated about the actions of others means I expect them to change to make me happy, and that’s not really their job. So, I’m trying to let go and understand that people are just going to do what people do, because as a friend of mine once wrote, we’ve all got our reasons.