Regardless of where you go, 3-5% of people are having a hard time. They’re angry, distracted, confused, self-centered, hangry, misinformed, or otherwise failing to shine as a beacon of happiness or organization. I bet you’ve even been one of these people at some point. I know I have.
The problem is that these 3-5% of people have an outsized impact on those around them. They often do things like cause checkout lines to back up, infuriate other drivers on the highway, and lose it in the veterinary clinic lobby.
Think about the last time you were irritated at humanity. I bet it was honestly just a very small percentage of people acting in a way that rippled out and negatively affected a lot of others (including you).
There’s not much we can do about the 3-5%. Dealing with people who are not at their best is simply part of being a communal species. As I mentioned earlier, I am certain that I’ve been someone who has behaved in a way that has frustrated or inconvenienced people around me at some point.
This doesn’t mean, however, that we are powerless in how the 3-5% affect us. In fact, we have great control by simply choosing our focus. Our lives are, after all, what (and who) we focus on.
We can’t prevent people from getting confused, overwhelmed, or angry. We can, however, decide how much attention we are going to personally give to that person. It’s probably good to recognize when someone is having a hard time so we can try to help (or at least so we don’t end up standing behind them in the checkout line). It’s not good, however, to let this person dominate our thoughts and emotions for the rest of the day or mentally hold them up as a representation of all other people.
Remember, we cannot control other people, but we can control how we react to them.
