Frustration

I woke up this morning frustrated with the world. I was frustrated with the attitudes of people I know. I was frustrated by seemingly unreachable goals. I was frustrated with work and even thinking about it was making me even more frustrated. I was frustrated with the day and I had only been awake for ten minutes.

So, I sat down to write out my frustrations and see if I could work through some of the thoughts. Slowly, I began to realize all the frustration I was feeling and directing at outside influences was actually frustration with myself. This frustration was caused by expectations I have placed on my own work, expectations I didn't feel I was living up to.

We all have goals and dreams, but we also place other markers on ourselves without knowing we are doing it. Holding ourselves to a much higher standard than others do, we have a hard time, if not an impossible time, meeting these expectations. We expect perfection and we will never be able get there.

In some people, this can be a driving force for good, but in most of us, this leads to the morning I had. When you aren't living up to the expectations you have secretly placed on yourself, you lash out in frustration at the people around you. You convince yourself they aren't trying hard enough or doing a good enough job or getting things done as quickly as you would like. In reality, you aren't doing a good enough job, trying hard enough or getting things done as quickly as you would like, at least in your own mind.

Cut yourself a little slack. You are never going to be perfect. Train your mind to expect your best work, nothing more, nothing less. Realize when your outward frustration is really based on your inward feelings. This frustration isn't good for you and it isn't good for the people unfortunately caught in the fire. They don't deserve your wrath and you don't deserve it either.