Act Your Age

I have this tendency to act out of emotions more often than I care to think about.  I allow myself to get wrapped up in the moment and I act upon it. 

Sometimes the outcome is good.

More often than not the outcome is not good.

And it's not things that put people in danger or anything like that but rather instances where I have acted in a way that I thought was best only to realize that it was not.

I have jumped and reacted before actually thinking or allowing an idea to sink in and I ended up with my tail, rightfully so, between my legs.

*****

When it came time to sign the paper stating my intention for my job next year I had to think long and hard about things.  Something occurred that caused me act almost instinctively and pushed me out my classroom door and down to the principal's office to quit on the spot. 

Thank God for buffer zones and the guy next door.

My desire to leave and quit was not wrong, nor has it gone away, but to do so in the moment of anger and hurt that I was feeling would have been wrong.  And Stupid.

I needed to assess my situation and determine the course of action that I felt was best for my situation.

I need to do that for all situations and I'm not very good at it. 

What's funny is that I'm not nearly this impulsive with less important things.  The things that don't boil down to emotion and acting upon them, I usually think about.

I'm not the type to go out and buy a new car or expensive item because it's something I NEED to have.  I'm not jumping on an airplane to fly anywhere and everywhere at a moment's notice because I want to or I can.  (I really can't, what with 4 kids and all)

Why, then, do I allow my emotions, in the more important situations, to make the decisions for me?  Where does my common sense and intelligence go in these situations?

I honestly don't know.

But I know that hindsight is 20/20 and, like Karma, it is often a bitch.  And one that I'd like to avoid.

So, here's to more thinking and less impulse.  Here's to more common sense and less reactionary sense.  Here's to trying to make the right, most logical and intelligent choice rather than the one motivated by emotions of the moment.

Here's to taking another step away from acting like an adolescent to acting your age.