Friday, June 10, 2011
“She’s driving me crazy!” “If he does that one more time, I’m going to scream!” “How can they be so stupid?” “I told them what to do. I can’t believe them!” “I hate her”. “I can’t stand them”. Ever heard any of this before? Ever said any of these things? I have said and thought some of these thoughts, I’m sorry to say, and this is what I have come to realize:
When I am around someone who does something that truly gets under my skin, I realize that I am looking at a quality that I myself possess that, in turn, irritates others. We only recognize the faults in others which we know to be in ourselves. To be out in the arena of life you have to pay the Price of Admission. What’s the Price of Admission?
From my earlier blog about J. Clair Woodbury, my mom, I talked about building an empire on what we like in others. But, before we even get to that building point, we usually first see what we don’t like in others. The irritating habits, odd behaviors, strange comments we see in others usually reside in us as well in some form or another, big or small.
Now let’s get back to the Price of Admission. When you finally meet the love of your life, after a while you’re going to hear them sniff too much, or snore, or burp during dinner. They may cough too much, or say “Where’s it at”, “Yea” or “Like” over and over. When you finally feel you’re getting irritated, remember, forgiving the little bothersome things we see in others is the Price of Admission to have friendships or a great love in our lives.
Sometimes, we just have to accept what we don’t like in others, and then have the great realization that we are probably driving them crazy with some of our own habits. I recently watched a video I recorded for a student’s dancing and was horrified to hear the operator of the camera (myself) coughing, sniffing, and clearing their throat. I said “Who is making all those irritating sounds?” and guess who was the culprit, I was. What an awakening! (I still make those noises, aarg!)
Now, at almost 55 years old, I realize that I make it in life by others forgiving me for all the little quirky habits that I have (and mistakes I have made). Some of these are scratching, itching, coughing, sniffing, and generally just wiggling around all the time. Also, I never answer a direct question, which is what drives Christy Melgoza nuts (sorry Christy, I don’t even know I’m doing it.) It’s the Price of Admission to be around me, but I am trying to lower the cost of the tickets if you know what I mean!
Let’s give each other a break and be more forgiving and more tolerant and loving. It will help our blood pressure and will help us become better dancers!
Next installment: Tell Your Story!
Very Sincerely,
David Woodbury
Comments are closed.