Are we in tumultuous times? Have you experienced a lack of empathy from a supervisor, an employee, been passed over for promotion; experiencing behaviors from your church or community that are less than stellar—that it leaves you feeling isolated, angry, depressed, anxious—people are feeling the strain. It’s not a great feeling when those behaviors from once-admirable colleagues, supervisors and politicians seem consequence-free.
This toxic toll comes out in stomach problems, sleeplessness, bitterness and headaches after experiencing disappointment in people. The cognitive resources trying to figure out how we are not deserving of respect, is taxing.
And why do we care? We cannot change every rude person in the community. Perhaps it gets at our sense of how or why this happened. It requires reflection and action.
Choosing words and tone with care helps you embrace the uncertainty, change and circumstances beyond our control in our lives.
Meeting rudeness and unfairness with grace is necessary (unless something is being taken from you—your time, your peace, your space) because when you ruminate and fume, you experience a cascade of stress hormones that can, in time, wreak havoc on your health. Finding grace and joy with whom you want to spend time with, what to eat, what to work at; grace gives you the ability to bounce back from disappointment when life happens.
Margaret Wachholz is the campus marketing director at Woodbury Senior Living. In her column, she shares observations and wisdom about aging and senior living in our community.
