Taking transit to work can be interesting. I usually leave at the same time, which means that I often run into the same people. Most individuals are unmemorable to me as they embark on their commute in a sleepy haze.
There is one woman though, who I often run into on the train. I wish I didn’t see her, because, truth be told, she drives me up the wall. This woman is often scanning the train with her nose up in the air, sighing as though she is disgusted with the other peasant folk she she sees. Anytime I have ever heard her speak, she is complaining about something. Whether it’s the commute, her coworkers or the weather, she has something bad to say. To make matters worse, her voice is so shrill that she might as well be poking my ear with a twig. In addition to a squeaky voice, this woman sports a sour puckered face (which leads me to believe that she only eats stalks of raw rhubarb for breakfast). I have affectionately ( and accurately) named this person: The sour faced froofie lady on the LRT.
Being on the lookout for the sour faced froofie became an early morning obsession for me. If I saw her on the LRT, it was as though an instant rain cloud came over me- my morning would be ruined! Fury would take over me and I could not wait to get away from her by squeezing my way to another part of the train. On other days, when the LRT was full and we were crammed in the carts like sardines, I had no choice but to stand by her for the entire ride. This was horribly unpleasant. It wasn’t until one morning when I nearly tripped and wiped out in my mad sprint of escape from the sour faced froofie that I thought to myself- maybe I was allowing her to have too much influence on my day?
You see, in all my concern over the sour faced froofie lady, I was becoming just like her. I found myself starting to complain about her. I found myself thinking and hoping each morning that I wouldn’t cross paths with her. If ever I saw her, I too would be sighing as I looked down on her with disgust. I faulted the sour lady for being negative, yet that’s exactly what I turned into.
The lesson here? Very simple. Be aware of what you fixate on. Don’t cling on to annoyances because before you know it, like me, you may have unknowingly turned into the sour froofie lady on the LRT.