500 Words a Week - We Are Insufferable
At times in our life we can be insufferable individuals. We may not be the rosy and easy going person we always thought ourselves to be.
Developing self awareness speaks to understanding that at times we may be the frustrating individual. We may be the one causing other people pain or annoyance. We can be sticklers for routines, frustrating those closest to us. Or we can have blatant disregard for routines, causing others frustrations. We are not always the hassle free individuals we think ourselves to be. Unfortunately it is those closest to us and who mean the most, who often get the worst parts of ourselves, our most insufferable moments.
Understanding that we are insufferable means accepting when those closest to us point out our flaws, our less than admirable qualities or actions. This is love in disguise. For if the person did not love you or did not care for you, they would allow you to continue living in your intolerable way and distance themselves from you. Those who love us not only love us for who we are but who we could be, and so they point out when we may be blind to our own less than desiring tendencies.
Yet if we constantly find ourselves slipping into our insufferable selves, when those around us have already told us how much it hurts or frustrates them, we aren’t growing as individuals, we aren’t becoming more self aware. We are becoming the cranky intolerable person we said we would never become.
If we are particularly brave, we can ask for the ways in which we have been intolerable. This may apply to our work and our lives, to invite others thoughts on how we conduct ourselves to invoke learning. To move us closer towards the person we are trying to become.
We must learn to start to feel when our worst selves come to the surface of our experience. This version of ourselves tends to come out when we are threatened, tired and hungry. Much like the toddler throwing a tantrum, we can also be susceptible to these outbursts of uncontrolled emotion. Do we have the awareness to notice when these moments are on the brink of occurring? To catch ourselves before we commit to our over emotional reactions, and allow our rational thoughts to consider the best course of action. Do we have the awareness to understand that maybe we need a good meal and an early night before voicing that frustration we have encountered in our mind?
At times we have to treat ourselves like a toddler in our care.
