Writing Excerpts – March 2, 2016

Confession time: I have allowed myself to get out of the daily writing habit. Somewhat embarrassing, somewhat expected, and completely sad.

 

Monday morning I sat down to compose my post of weekly writing excerpts and realized that I had only written on one day. Sure, I can say I was reading instead, or all of the snow days threw me off, or really make any excuses I want. But I was simply lazy and unfocused. So I didn’t post anything Monday. Now it’s Wednesday, and my failure to write about random subjects and post the ramblings is all I can think about. I re-read the one thing I did write last week, and decided I should post it.

And after I hit “publish,” I’m going to do my 500-word writing for today. I will be back to my regular Writing Excerpt posting schedule next Monday, and there will be more than one day’s worth of writing in it.

 

2/24/2016

A quote you try to live by

“Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

That’s not the exact quote, and I see variations all over the place with no attribution, so it’s probably something people make up and adjust as they wish. But it doesn’t really matter, since the message is always the same: don’t judge people, and suppress your snarkiness.

Having worked in the public sector for several years, I’ve met all variations of people and often taken the brunt of their frustration. Occasionally they apologize, usually they don’t. I’ve also been tempted to treat people unfairly due to my own bad mood on any given day, especially when making a phone call regarding a service issue. It’s so easy for us to treat anonymous people – or those in customer service type jobs – badly.

Sometimes two people just have clashing personalities. Or we assume things about others based on their appearance or possessions. I’ve done it – seeing the same people over and over every day, thinking it’s possible to know them by their facial expressions, dress, or attitude.

We need to stop it.

That mom in your child’s class who can never seem to get it together? Or the one who seems to have it ALL together ALL the time? She may have cancer. Or really *anything* else going on that she is making an extreme effort to hide from her child. We all deal with our issues differently. Some have no problem telling you their life story the very first time you meet, others are so reserved that you may think they believe they are too good to speak to you. (Shy person raising her hand here… I may not say much, but it’s NEVER because I think I’m too good for someone… it’s pretty much the opposite of that.)

The overprotective mom? Her child may have nearly died at some point in their young life. She will do ANYTHING to keep that child safe.

The woman with no children who constantly gives you unsolicited parenting advice? She may want a child SO badly that she reads every possible thing she can find about the parenting process, just praying that she will be able to put it into use someday and unable to help herself from sharing things she hopes will help others.

The parent with the purple hair and funky clothing? She’s probably the nicest person you could ever talk to.

The child who wears the same clothes to school every single day? Unless the clothes are dirty and stinky, give the parents a break in your mind. It may be a battle his mother has had with him multiple times and chosen to not fight about any longer.

There’s no reason to judge others when we don’t know the whole story. It’s not our job. Smile, listen, and find something positive to say. That’s our job.

Writing Excerpts - March 2, 2016 | www.fillingthejars.com | Confession time: I have allowed myself to get out of the daily writing habit. Somewhat embarrassing, somewhat expected, and completely sad.

Note: This series of Writing Excerpts was originally inspired by this post and Jeff Goins’ My 500 Words challenge.

 

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