Seriously! I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve stood back and said to myself, “What the #@$% is going on here? Is it just me? Or am I really out of sync with the rest of the world?” Sometimes I just thing life is like a Kung Fu movie.
Put it this way, if I had a penny for every time MY thoughts, actions or responses didn’t match someone’s intended meanings, actions, or behavior I’d be a millionaire!! (Hey! Maybe that could make me the next Kevin Trudeau! “My secrets to making a MILLION DOLLARS by your thoughts alone!” Nah, Kevin probably already has that one copyrighted.)
To be perfectly honest I’d have to say most of the arguments, fights and even job losses in my life seem to be caused by my own responses due to misunderstanding the situation.
Take for example my last job.
Upon my hiring Mr. Q made it perfectly clear that getting it done right was not A priority but was THE priority for every project. And if at any time I believed we were acting differently or someone was interfering with achieving that goal within the deadline then I was to tell him directly.
In other words, I was to take a no holds barred, take on all comers, no opponent to big mindset when it came to addressing why our project wasn’t on time or failed to meet expectations.
So like a Tasmanian devil on steroids I growled at, attacked, and chewed up anyone that stood in my way of delivering my projects on time.
Everyone was fair game, even Mr. Q!
Well you can guess how well that went over with Mr. Q. Yep, faster than you can say “Uh Oh Mr. Cheerios!” I was let go!
But now looking back at the situation I can see where my actions and those of Mr. Q’s weren’t in sync.
I’m not saying that it was all my fault. Mr. Q. was obviously wrong in not following the change control process. But at the same time I have to admit that it was my actions and how I responded to Mr. Q that lead to my dismissal.
In other words, it wasn’t the fact I reported to Mr. Q that he was the reason our product was missing its deadline and quality expectations. But it was HOW I reported to Mr. Q that he was the one responsible.
Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t understand this subtle concept. (I still struggle with this even today.)
But that’s just one example.
Most of the time it’s nowhere near that extreme! I could give you hundreds more! From times when my thoughts are going faster than my mouth can make the words.
Or how about those times the world seems to be spinning faster than your feet can walk? (I swear that sometimes I’m cursed to find every dad gum crack in the side walk no matter how small!)
And I wouldn’t life be a whole lot easier if we could turn on closed captioning when talking to someone.
Anyways, don’t you agree?
Sometimes life feels like those classic Kung Fu movies? Where we with a mental illness are out of sync with the rest of the world?
About Eddie Carrington
I find myself misunderstanding directions, or the implied directions all the time. My problem has to do with my brain not wanting to focus on something for more than 3 seconds. Its more like the fact that my brain is skipping through channels and suddenly finds a kung fu movie in the middle of the action, its fun, but I have no idea what’s going on. But I’m really good at faking it!
Yeah man, tact and diplomacy are hard skills to come by. Took me many years before I could not loose my cool at everyone and think before letting my emotions come barreling out. It’s important to learn to meditate too, not lengthy hour long sits atop a mountain, but short ‘moment’ meditations that last on a few seconds. While standing in line or even talking to someone, like that boss, and these will also give you short little boosts of energy, confidence and general well being throughout the day. This isnt something to be learned and practiced over years and years, you just do it! There is no journey or path for this, there’s no 12 step program, you just do it!
@Jay This is interesting. Micro-Meditations. I like the idea and might have to pull this Jedi mind trick out of the back sometime.