Shorts
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Temptation
Whenever I feel temptation creep up on me to do something that I shouldn’t, I try to create barriers between me and the thing I shouldn’t do. It’s easier to do that, then try and talk myself out of doing it.
Quick example: if I feel that I shouldn’t call a person, but I am tempted to call them (if I’m angry or something), I turn my phone off. Adding that extra step (of turning my phone on) to do what I want to somehow makes me ask myself “What is your point?” and “Is it really worth the trouble?”. The answers to those are usually: “No idea” and “No”.
It is easier to create barriers that make people question their actions everytime they reach it, than it is to talk them out of doing whatever it is they’re doing. Newton’s first law:
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.
Butting your will against theirs isn’t helpful, because when someone decides to do something they shouldn’t, it means their will has overcome their logic. Your logic won’t make a difference. What you can do, is make it harder for them, so that their will now has to overcome more than just logic — actual barriers to their goal. You’ll be surprised how hard climbing up a mountain can really be.
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No person is rude to a stranger. People might be apathetic or ill-mannered, but never rude. Rudeness is always directed bitterness, which always has a reason. People are rude to you because they want to be rude to you, for various reasons that are specific to every case. No person is ‘generally’ rude as a personality trait — it takes deliberation.
I don’t believe in being polite for the sake of social acceptance. A person can be whatever they want, and let the people around him/her decide if they want to be around him/her despite the behaviour. I usually choose to ignore and avoid people who’re rude to me without any visible reason, maybe give them some leash if it’s a one off.
But everybody, even the most patient ones I’m sure, have a threshold.
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In some ways, Isabella Swan (from the Twilight series) seems like the perfect virgo - negative, selfish and epitome of feminine behaviour. But sometimes, she seems to be the anti-virgo, with her lack of confidence and real stubbornness. Talk about attention to detail.
