I am a clumsy person. I have to work very hard to be graceful in public; however, my private spills at home do impact others. It impacts my husband right now, because my right foot is impaired. I can’t drive. I will be going for another scan (MRI) this week to determine the type of surgery that will be needed to repair the damage I did by not sitting down and resting. I just had to help out, instead of rest, like the doctor ordered. The surgery will impact my family for 6 weeks.
Totally preventable, I should have listened. Luckily, my husband is willing to put up with my need to be right – to a point. He has stressed that had I just listened and followed directions, none of this would be happening. Where there is sympathy for the pain I am in, there is the understanding that this was preventable and I need to accept responsibility for my actions.
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Being late is something that I do find rude. An occasional oops, is one thing. Being habitually late, regardless of whether or not the person (who is running late) thinks it is a victimless manner crime, is just being disrespectful to others. For some, that person that comes in late to a lecture is very disruptive. For speakers like me, that late person can shake my concentration. While I can deliver a good public speech, it takes a lot of effort for me not to go into a panic. It really only takes a small disruption to throw me off balance and into the dreaded land of “um.” Something I’ve spent a lot of time trying not to say in a speech. What you may think isn’t a big issue, can be for others and you may never know the true impact of your action.
I find your question very interesting. I am guilty of holding “late” people to a higher standard than someone like me, “the klutz.” I agree, though. Someone like me, a major klutz, should be held to a certain standard, as well. If I would slow down, concentrate and stop trying to do 5 things at once, I probably wouldn’t be as accident prone. I think I will need to start thinking about my actions, more!
Thanks, Niki!