My Peace

We all have had that one co-worker that just try your gangster for no apparent reason at all. When you try to let it slide, they just keep trying you. Then when you give them the business they turn into the victim, you are the bad guy and you have a problem. So Dr. Simmons and I had a discussion about peace. I think this is the pettiest thing I have seen/heard. Here are her thoughts in her own words:

People never cease to amaze me. Whether they do something good, bad, intentional or incidental towards me, my attempt to understand “why” is beyond belief. I can’t control the actions of others, but I can control my reaction towards others. In the moments before reacting or not, I ask myself, “is this worth my peace”. Most of the time, it’s not. Expending energy on a situation that takes away from my peace is counterproductive in my aim to Do Better. I noticed that my peace gets tried mostly when I’m at work. I think that is because at work we're supposed to be on our best behavior. I’m guilty of this, but sometimes I forget I’m at work and want to pop off when my peace is tried. This person at my place of employment likes to walk around looking at everyone’s computer monitors. Last time I checked, that is what I.T. is for. So, I thought about poppin’ off on buddy when I noticed it. Then I thought, it’s not worth my peace to go through the entire process of filing a complaint when buddy will just say “I have to pass by her desk to get to restroom” or something to that effect. Keeping in mind the importance of my career advancement, I decided to take another approach. Never had this issue before, so the solution was actually funny when it came to mind. I utilize two computer monitors and on the right monitor I typed in Microsoft word, 72 font size, all caps: MAY I HELP YOU? I mean obviously buddy needs help with those wandering eyes. Once it’s done I’m sitting, waiting for buddy to walk by because I can see everything behind me cause of the glass window in front of my desk. Buddy walks by and is stopped like a dear in headlights, reading the question on my screen. Let’s just say buddy doesn’t walk past my desk anymore. Problem solved, no casualties, peace preserved. Peace for me while at work is earbuds in and listening to my old school Gospel playlists. I listen to other genres of music but Gospel music keeps me humble and calm because I go to work with the intentions of having a great day, but I never know what will happen as the day progress. This situation might have gone differently if I had asked buddy “what the hell are you looking at". Then that would have turned into me creating a hostile work environment. Minute as it was, my peace was tried because it took me from a place of lucidity. Once it was done, I placed my earbuds back in, turned on my Gospel music and in that instant, I’m back to my peace as if I never left. Once a situation is done, I don’t ever think about it again. I haven’t always been this way so know that it’s not an instant gratification type of thing. It actually took me years and a lot of help to get to where I am now. I navigate through life protecting and preserving my peace. Peace helps me realize why I have to Do Better, and who depend on me to Do Better. Your peace has to be important enough for you to protect and preserve. Ask yourself, is it?