Post in progress.

I love the blog Flourish in Progress. Not the concept so much of her one year of no shopping, I think that is just insane, but her Monday dares.
I realized once more yesterday that yoga or not I’m still the most impatient and potentially snappy person I know. And even with all the good mantras in the world that I tell myself each day, it’s just not getting any better.
So last night I decided to give myself a bit of a dare. One Wednesday, no snapping, no bitching, no rolling eyes, no hooting (yes, I do that A LOT). I will update as I go along and hand in my final report tomorrow as tonight is Prego-post-yoga night.

The morning didn’t start so bad...

09h15 Don’t you hate it when people ask you for something - in my case to write something for a friend of mine - and a) tell you it’s urgent, when it’s not and b) don’t read what you wrote. This morning I got an email from her basically indicating that a) and b) were the case and I got a bit annoyed. I was about to re-write everything in bold with an appropriate comment attached when I remembered my dare. I’m proud to say I rephrased my response nicely and still got my point across.

B+
Stay tuned. The phone is about to ring....

I should elaborate about the phone thing. It drives me absolutely, completely insane when people call at my office and do not say their names. It’s probably the German in me, but it has led to serious arguments, which culminated in someone hanging up as I didn’t want to tell her my name before she told me hers. Mind you, I had already picked up the phone saying company name and my name. Just thinking about it gets my pulse up.
So needless to say South African phone etiquette and I don’t really get on with each other. I knew going into this dare taking phone calls would be my biggest challenge. I was right. Here is what happened at 09h45:

Caller: Hi, can I speak to Sweetness?
Me: There is no such person working here.
Caller: But I have on my records that she works for you.
Me: I think we had a Sweetness about 5 years ago, but not anymore.
Caller: Can I speak to someone in HR whether you have a Sweetness?
Me: We don’t have HR and I’m telling you she doesn’t work here.
Caller: So do you have a Sweetness working for you?
Me: Lady, THERE IS NO SWEETNESS WORKING HERE ANYMORE.
Caller: Why don’t you say so?

Yes, everything printed in capitals is me yelling. That’s a big fat F. Hanging up would have been more polite on my part.

10h15
Another email from that friend of mine. Okay, she did apologize for rushing me, but I still don’t think she has read the text. My answer deserves a B - now.

13h25

I deserve an A now. No snapping, no nothing. If I’m honest though that might be due to the fact that I have not spoken to anyone for the last hour and a half. Expect for a chat with Thekla about how control freak women are very much like vampires and how bad it would be (for the men) to actually be a control freak vampire. We decided that would make us vampire queens of the Western Cape and might be quite scary indeed.

15h00

I'm practically a saint here. To be even more saintlike = honest I think today doesn't count. It's not daring to be nice if there are no phone calls and no human interaction. Yoga doesn't count because I'm actually never snappy at the studio or in class (SIT DOWN LOWER NOW, PEOPLE! does not count, that's motivation.) The drive to the studio could be interesting. We will see. I shall report tonight.
On another note - I was just accused of drinking in regards to me mentioning vampires. I really did not. I wish. And the vampires were all Thekla's fault anyhow.

Rest of the day

I am proud to tell that it just got better from here. No hooting, no yelling, no snapping. I did make a somewhat inappropriate comment in class by mistake, but that just made everyone laugh.
This morning I continued on a similar good streak and only showed one guy the finger, but he deserved it the way he was driving. The sales lady who was telling me in detail that I was looking at soap, then body lotion, then body scrub - yes, lady, I am looking at it and can tell it's soap - only got a little frown and still made a damn good sale from me.

So all in all I'm quite proud of myself and will just remind me once in a while of the two wise sayings that 1. Rome wasn't built in a day and 2. People don't do the things that bug you to bug you. They just do what they do. - That came from my yoga teacher. Quite profound, but good to remember once in a while when you think the guy in front of you is driving 20kmh in order to ruin your day.