February Feelings

I’ve been annoyed more often than usual in the last month or so. I’m generally fairly easy-going, but even the smallest things have been bugging me lately. I believe this is due to the anxiety I’ve been experiencing.

February was a very stressful month, both personally and professionally, which is why my 27th Day posts are several days late. When I’m stressed, I’m anxious, resulting in extreme reactions to trivial matters, such as the shoes my husband left in the middle of the living room floor for me to trip over.

When reviewing specific incidences of annoyance over the past month, I discovered most fell within just a handful of categories. So, I’ve listed the top five things that bug me.

1. Adults who don’t pick up or clean up after themselves. When I go to bed at night, the counters are clean and clutter free. But, after my husband gets up, pours a cup of coffee and makes toast for breakfast, the counters are covered with coffee stains, empty packets of sweetener, an open loaf of bread, and a margarine container with a knife sticking out of it. That bugs me!
2. Individuals who inappropriately promote their personal agendas. I find this even more objectionable than commercial spam. An email, disguised as a joke, denigrates our president; a message on a hobby list urges participation in a letter-writing campaign on a politically-charged issue; a tech forum post calls for the boycott of a company because it’s owned by foreigners. The perpetrators think they can get away with this because they don’t profit monetarily, but this is spam, and it bugs me!
3. Bad grammar. I admit I’m a grammar snob. Any high school graduate who speaks English as a first language should  be able to speak and write correctly. The word “ain’t” is like fingernails scraping across a blackboard. “He don’t” and “there” when “their” is required are almost as annoying. Today is National Grammar Day, so why not make it a point to improve your speaking and writing? That won’t bug me!
4. People who practice and preach intolerance. Yes, I’m intolerant of intolerance. There are those so convinced of the superiority of their opinions and values they are not only prejudiced against those who differ, but actively promote discrimination against them. That, my friends, is bigotry. It bugs me, and it should bug you!
5. A day has only 24 hours and 8 are wasted sleeping. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sleep. I’d probably do it even more if I wasn’t so busy doing other things. I’ve been told we need less sleep as we age, but I didn’t nap until I hit 50. It annoys me that I can’t function without devoting a third of my life to slumber. I spend an hour every day dealing with email, so why can’t I spend only 60 minutes sleeping? That would bug me more if I weren’t so tired.

What bugs you?