No Academy Awards for You!
Growing up, my parents called me Sarah Bernhardt. She was a movie star in the silent movie era, who was, shall we say, an overly dramatic actress. I guess I was guilty of a bit of overacting myself. When you are 10 years old, apparently everything warrants a dramatic response. As you mature and develop however, an overly dramatic reaction to disappointing situations just seems childish. And dare I say it, adds to your chaos.
There are certain situations where a dramatic response is warranted. For instance, when your child does something life threatening or your boss moves the deadline for your project from next Friday to this Tuesday a big emotional response might be in order.
Yet, many of us are guilty of an overly-dramatic reaction to everyday situations. For instance, when the restaurant runs out of the special of the day or when a co-worker has to leave early due to a dentist appointment, and you have to cover the phones. We have all yelled at the restaurant server or said unprintable things about the co-worker. After the outburst, we still feel bad and continue to ruminate about our bad fortune - basically accomplishing nothing except proving our emotional immaturity.
There are disappointments and annoyances in every one's life. In fact, many days we should be more surprised when things do go our way than when they don't. A very smart friend of mine said these words to me after a nasty bout of over-reaction. He said, "The measure of who you really are, is in how you react to the disappointments you face." Try not to take these annoyances to heart. Don't let your over-reaction bring you any more chaos or melodramatic actor references!
Have a mellow day!
Tracy
*******
Tracy Knofla
High Impact Training
PS. Feel free to share this with your friends and colleagues