Bad moods

People stress me out.  Not people in general, just those who are uptight and stressed about everything themselves.  Those who are constantly moving fast, making sudden moves and speaking in an almost desperate tone to get all the words out as quick as possible.  I just want to grab hold of them, give them a good shake, sit them down in a corner with a cup of tea and make them stay there doing nothing for half an hour.  For some reason, I feel they would figure out how to do something.


The problem I encounter is "catching" their stress.  The second that person walks into the room, there is a feeling or energy that consists of nothing but anxiety.  When others feel that, they can become as stressed out as the other person.  It's just too much for me to handle.  Crying is how I deal with overwhelming feelings and I sure cannot be doing that in so many inappropriate places.

Once I began to realize the effect of others' feelings and moods on me, it has caused me to wonder if I ever caused that much stress in other people.  I am fairly certain I wasn't so laid back in the past and had excessive feelings of all kind that probably spilled over onto others.  This makes me realize that while we may be having "one of those days," it's important to realize that what we're feeling can often be felt by others.  If we aren't careful to monitor our behavior, we could end up passing our negative "energy" onto  hundreds of people in one day, especially if you work in a service job.

How much are we to be held responsible for this?  If someone has a sudden outburst of road rage due to coming in contact with our bad attitude, is this the fault of the person having the outburst or the originator of the stressful, angry feelings?  While people may never be prosecuted for causing negative feelings, it sure does make you think twice about taking your stressed self outside the house.  When we are aware that how we feel effects everyone, not just ourselves, we can effectively monitor the behavior and attempt to keep things under wraps.

So as you go out today, regardless of your attitude, try to remember that most of the time everyone already knows how you're feeling.  Maybe you should just stay home.