If you’ve ever truly taken the time out to look around and acknowledge what’s going on in people’s minds, it’s quite alarming. I think right around the time I cleared up the whole religion debacle, I started to take interest in social psychology. Essentially, I was interested in how people think, why they think the way they do, and how they act around others. Even more interesting to me is the psychology of the self. Read the first sentence of this post again. If you’ve ever stopped and observed the attitude/actions of people on an everyday basis, I’m sure you’d agree that what you find is a bit alarming.

My buddy “V” somewhat triggered me to write about this phenomenon. He pinpointed one of the problems people have in the way they think today.

(11:22:40 PM) V: you know what I hate about almost everyone
(11:23:06 PM) V: it’s that people are too fucking busy with the next thing in their life that they never pay attention to what’s going on now

He nailed it. This is one of the most damaging mindsets a person can have. Now, don’t get me wrong; taking the future into consideration is an important aspect of life. For example, looking ahead to see the consequences of an action — this is perfectly fine and healthy. It’s when this infatuation with the future becomes an obsession that it ruins lives. One may think that this is simply an exaggeration. But truth be told, it is far from that. People are constantly worried about what lies ahead of them. All too often does the mind ring thoughts to the sound of “Will I succeed? I should get to work!” Little do these people realize that their lives are being wasted right in front of them.

In short, people often get caught up in what is to come rather than live their lives in the present. They don’t enjoy themselves; they’re just too busy with work and things that need to get done by a certain deadline. People take things too seriously. I can honestly vouch for this statement with some recent encounters. I recently began working at a high-rise downtown. I am early to rise, and I’m out of the house by 6:45am. Every morning, Monday to Thursday, I drive to the train station that will get me downtown. And let me tell you, people are relentless in the morning. This is where my observation begins. I think I have yet to go a day without being cut off in traffic (the little of it that there is at that hour) or hearing some impatient driver laying on his/her horn on account of someone only going 5 over the speed limit. It’s nice to be able to drive faster in the morning, but some people just make it out to be like their timeliness is far more important than everyone else’s. I saw a guy today weave traffic like it were a Navajo basket. He tailed people like it was his job and clearly couldn’t stand anyone on the road (on an unrelated note, the most aggressive drivers I’ve seen have sported BMWs). It’s like this every morning. And it doesn’t end there. On to the train station.

Look around the next time you’re on any form of public transportation. Count the scowls. I’m not saying one should be smiling all the time. I’m by no means a happy-go-lucky person, spreading joy wherever I go. Those who know me know that. But sometimes it’s like, “Holy shit, lighten up.” I could plug my “Appreciation” rant right now, but I’ll spare you. What it comes down to is appreciating what position you’re in at the moment. What I’m finding more and more recently is the fact that the homeless are so much more mentally stable in this sense (they might be mentally stable on account of being mentally UNstable, but I’ll take it). I’ve heard tons more homeless people have happier conversations than the suit on the train. Oh no, it doesn’t end here.

Sitting at my desk at work, I can hear the girl on the other side of my cube taking calls for service support. Now, keep in mind that this is a business. They get businessmen/businesswomen calling in with absolutely no regard for the being with whom they’re speaking on the other end of the phone. That said, I’ve heard this girl get screamed at by impatient businessmen. From what I heard, she wasn’t being unreasonable. But the guy on the phone was flat-out screaming at this girl. And that’s exactly the problem with the way people think. They get all hot and bothered from the most trivial shit and escalate from rudeness to utter outrageousness. And really, what’s it all for? I understand that it’s a business call, but come on. When you’re screaming at a stranger over the phone, don’t you think it’s time to step back and take a look at what you’re doing? “V” said it best:

(11:27:13 PM) V: you just wanna grab those people and be like ’settle the fuck down!’

I’ve spent much of this post detailing the work aspect of this whole problem. But it’s not only prevalent there; it’s seen in other facets of daily life as well. This whole concept of being too serious and worrying about the future can be found in relationships — be it a friendly relationship or a romantic one. People worry about how others will view them and partners worry how long they will stay together. It’s really not that uncommon. And all you have to do is take a look around and observe. It’s as simple as that. You’d be surprised at how much you can learn from simply observing these kinds of things. And of course, observe yourself. See if you can point out when you’re being ridiculous and then control yourself. Because in the end, it’s really not that big a deal.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 1:16 am and is filed under Happiness, Personal, Psychology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.