What has to happen in order for someone to get your
attention? Is there a certain amount of calls, text messages or FB messages
when you will respond? Today I end up being on both ends of this timely
discussion. Too many of us, myself included, allow electronic devices to rule
our lives 24-7. I get screamed at when I turn off my iPhone at night and
receive an urgent call or text but don’t respond until 5am. I know as a little kid my mom would always
tell me to not ask for help unless I really needed it and if there was a true
emergency it was ok to scream and expect help quickly. The challenge today is
too many cry wolf when helped isn’t needed and when circumstances truly require
the 911 response the group that has been responding are now purposely out of
touch.
I get calls or texts from people all of the time asking for
something that ranges from getting their house painted or having granny’s house
fixed to someone needing a bus pass that waits until the last minute. I do
respond quickly when it is something about no food in the house, no power in
the summer time or medical help. It is never easy to know what is truly
important and is just someone wanting attention. I can get annoyed at the person,
that isn’t willing to help himself or herself and take positive steps to make
life happen for them.
So I get it that everyone around me isn’t always going to
respond to an e-mail or a text from me instantly. Yeah, sometimes this hurts me
and other times I get it that my friends are super busy and might go a day
without responding and that isn’t the end of the world. The difficulty is
dealing with at risk people that aren’t always likely to respond to
circumstances in a healthy fashion. I don’t want someone to have a total melt
down that becomes toxic because someone didn’t listen. I can laugh at myself at times when I get
bent out of shape about something that looking back is totally ridiculous. The
difficulty is that not everyone else is always able to look back at life, laugh
and learn from poor choices that were used as an excuse to get attention
instead of thinking first.
One of the classic issues in my neighborhood is that at risk
people will go to the Emergency Room for something like a hangnail or symptoms
of the flu. The difficultly is that they end up making the ER Room full and
difficult for someone with a real life threatening need to get help because
they have to make their way through the crowd. So how do you help yourself
first and then those around you to better see what is really important and what
can wait till tomorrow?
My mom was always the pragmatist that would say it’s always
better to take care of what you can today and don’t let it go until tomorrow.
She was one that would help me see that I could deal even with what looked like
emergencies to discover that it wasn’t a big deal but I made it a big deal. I
will always remember an accident that happened with one of the neighbor kids.
We were playing around with air guns shooting dirt clods at each other. One of
the outside kids got in the way and ended up getting wacked by the air gun. Unfortunately
for him he had a cut on his head that bled like anything. His mom panicked and
came to my house accusing me and my friends of trying to kill her son. My mom
quickly intervened and did first aid and the emergency was adverted and what were
really just guys messing around stayed that. Yet, I know if my mom hadn’t been
there this lady would have called 911 and the police and fire engine would be
at our house.
So how do we ascertain what really is an emergency instead
of just me wanting attention because I’m jealous of someone else? This will
always be a difficult call to make. I think stepping back and asking yourself
how often everything in your life becomes a crisis helps give perspective on
whether you are someone that just lives from self made crisis to crisis. I know that I can be an adrenaline junky at
times. Yet, I don’t really want to live as if it’s the crisis that makes my
life rock.
I read today on LinkedIn one of the cutesy quotes that I
think gives a better way of looking at life. ‘Start a kindness ripple where you
are today and imagine how far it will go.’
So instead of looking for a crisis start a kindness ripple!
No comments:
Post a Comment