'Tis the Season for Impatience...Apparently

Let's face it, we all have little pet peeves that will irritate us every time we have to encounter them. Tonight, on the way home from work and the grocery store, one of mine reared its head.

Drivers who pass on the right.

Now, I'm not talking about a place like a four-lane highway or the Interstate where you technically can pass on the right (whether you should or not being an entirely different, though related, discussion). I'm talking about a normal, everyday road and someone decides they can't wait on you to turn so they pass you in the shoulder.

This is one of the idiotic traffic violations that always manages to irk me for multiple reasons. First, it's not safe. You could get hurt or someone else could because you decide to forget you're an intelligent human being. Second, I can't imagine you're in that much of a hurry where you can't wait for someone to turn or to do the speed limit. I admit, it brings out my pettiness as these are times I wish a police car was around to ticket the offender.

Tonight, the irritation level over this particular peeve was higher. It's been pouring the rain and it was dark. So dark and so wet that visibility was poor. My low beam headlights were barely putting off enough light for me to see, and every other set of headlights was twice as bright as normal due to the reflections off the water. I have to stop to make a left turn, and this SUV comes around me off the shoulder of the road. In the dark. On a soaking wet road. On the top of a hill, of all things. There is no way that you have somewhere to be in a residential area that warrants that kind of a rush at 6 o'clock on a Thursday night.

However, as irritating as this encounter was, it made me think. And I've thought of this before.

We, as humans, are always in a rush.

I see it most often when I'm driving. We treat the speed limit as a speed minimum, getting irritated at anyone who goes under it while also getting irritated at speeders (even though we ourselves are going five over because we've been taught that's acceptable). We anxiously wait at stoplights for the light to turn green and speed through yellows. We perform rolling stops and hectic lane changes. We tailgate (and yes, we all have done this, even accidentally). We blow our horns and flash our lights when someone isn't quite moving fast enough for our tastes.

And I say "we", not just as a reflection of our species, but of myself as well. I've had a speeding ticket. I've broken traffic laws more than once, just like everyone else has. I've gotten irritated when someone is driving slow. I'm human. I can be impatient.

But this impatience goes beyond driving. It's actually something that's overly prevalent this time of year.

All around us at Christmas are positive messages. "Peace on Earth, good will towards men." "Enjoy your family time." "Have a happy holiday."

And yet, we are stressed and grumpy and generally unhappy.

The shopping season is filled with pushing and shoving, trying to grab items before someone else has a chance. There's complaining about long lines or shipping times. There's stress if the shopping isn't done by a certain time.

Then there's the decorating and the cooking and the wrapping. There are these societal and personal deadlines as the when the decorations should be up, when the presents should be wrapped, when the food bought, how much time it should take to prepare so everything is perfect for Christmas dinner.

Then, to make it worse, we complain about being in a rush!

People complain about stores preparing for Christmas before Thanksgiving because it's rushing the season in.

People complain about being tired and having so much to do.

People are stressed because they aren't sure when they'll get everything down.

People wish for things to just "slow down."

Then why don't we just slow down?

Why do we feel the need to rush and be impatient about things? Why do we have to complain about our own impatience, but never make a change about it?

December and November is our busiest time of the year. And I get that. But, we try to rush through everything instead of slowing down to enjoy it all. Christmas is the time for us to slow down.

Even though it's just five days away now, can we all give slowing down and focus on enjoying Christmas and the reason for it a chance? Can we all take a "Sunday drive" through the next few days instead of focusing on the hustle and bustle and just getting to the destination?

Don't pass Christmas on the right.

Maybe slowing down now will be the start to developing patience the rest of the year.