Acknowledging My Emotions

I was met with some attitude today and I didn’t feel angry because I was mostly surprised. The person was upset because they didn’t feel they had enough space to pass through so I squeezed myself to the side knowing that there was enough space. I looked before they even asked and I still moved but the point is, I was met with an attitude and I wasn’t upset. Normally in the past, I would’ve given attitude back because I saw that I left space for them to pass through and still the person was upset. Instead, I moved and realized that I can’t avoid people that look for a reason to be angry but I can control my emotions and the way I respond in the situation. I had spent so much time in my life wondering why people responded negatively even when I was doing as they said or moving to the side but I’ve now realized more than a decade later that they were looking for a reason to be angry and because I responded with the same emotion, both of us were angry and nothing was ever resolved. If anything, we made things worse but now I realize if I had just stood up for myself in the calm tone I wanted to speak in, the problem would’ve resolved itself. I remember when I was younger and I chose to respond in a calm manner while the other person was upset, they would apologize because they saw that I didn’t understand why they were upset and as I got older, I started responding the same way the other person would and I am now unlearning it. I don’t say this to say we should allow others to step on us because that is something that I am also working on and we should stand up for ourselves but I say this to remind one that we shouldn’t allow the emotion of others to affect our day because when I was respond angrily to others in the past, I allowed it to ruin my day but now I am realizing that a moment of anger should not have so much power and that I can only control how I feel and react. I choose peace now and I will act according to how I would like others to treat me and if others prefer to stay angry when there is no reason to, then I will remove myself from them. I have also decided not to allow others to tell me how I should feel because my emotions are my own. To anyone working on themselves, I am proud of you and I believe you will do what is best for you.