When I was driving the other day, a person cut me off and honked their horn as though I was the perpetrator. My wife started ranting about the driver so I told her that I was putting a bubble around that person for her and all their stress will need to stay there. It wasn't that I despised the person or thought less of them. I used to be that person with deadlines, late for picking up the kids or just feeling behind and wanting to be in control of traffic. But things happened in life that made my peace of mind too valuable for such things.
My life since I was a kid was ran by crisis. It was a continuous cycle of moving from one to another. There were family, work, political, and religious crisis that constantly demanded my attention. Everyone just ranted while nothing ever changed. I realized that if there wasn't a crisis, someone was going to make one up. I had become addicted to resolving them. This pursuit had taken time away from good relationships. The same went for most of the people I knew in the aforementioned areas.
Through experience I have learned that certain people are prone to drama, every job force has certain tendencies, politicians get elected on solving exaggerated crisis and religions make persuasive arguments out of nothing. I find substantive conversations to be a breath of fresh air. Many others I have met seem to feel the same way.
The way to deal with crisis is to look at life's obstacles objectively with confidence and determination while enjoying every breath of air. Time is far too valuable and scarce to be ground up in crisis cycles. This isn't an excuse for a lack of ambition or passion. I have plenty of that. But constructive behavior is all I am interested in any more. If there is virtue, praise or enjoyment, I am all in. Yet crisis mongers persist in every area. Staying above it is easier said than done, but the struggle to stay out of crisis isn't going to turn into a crisis either. My immediate environment is one thing that is always under my control when nothing else seems that way.
