Ah-ha

I've got a startling revelation for you. Are you ready for this?

Just because I have decided to do something, or to behave in a certain way, doesn't mean the rest of the world has made the same choice.

Soak it in.

It is not the world according to me.

Shocking, isn't it?!?

No, but seriously, it doesn't surprise me when someone takes their coffee differently than mine...or they order something else from the menu at a restaurant, listen to another genre of music, drive a different car, pursue a dissimilar line of work, etc. So why does it bother me - or even make me grouchy - when I make a friendly gesture to a stranger and they don't return it. I wave and smile, they look the other way. I stop for someone to cross the road and they refuse to acknowledge me. (Of course this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes the people I encounter respond very kindly.) But I found myself grumbling and feeling offended when people didn't respond the way I thought they should.

And then the "ah-ha" moment.

The only response I get to choose - the only actions I get to dictate - are my own. I never signed a contract with the rest of the world stating, "I will behave this way, and then you are required by law to respond in such a way that is pleasing to me." Are my convictions so weak that a few undesirable responses are going to cause me to behave in another way all together? I hope not. Afterall, I wouldn't feel obligated to order the same thing as the person in line behind me at Starbucks. They're getting an americano? Good for them. I like the non-fat white mocha. That's my choice and I'm the one who will be drinking it.