Irritability Is A Privilege

I was reading Seth Godin's blog the other day and he was talking about irritability. He said people who are drowning or starving are not irritable because they are too busy trying to survive to act that way. He said someone who is irritable is resentful that they are not getting what they deserve. He said irritability is a privilege.

That really made me see irritability in a new light.

How many times have we been irked by our kids or our job or our friends? How many times have we been silently resentful about something but said nothing and then acted irritable to someone else? Usually someone we are comfortable with, like family, because we know they'll love us anyway.

If we feel like we're not getting what we deserve, what about saying something? Discussing it? Or moving on to where we do belong?

There are so many choices in life and being irritable is one of them. It's a choice. So is being joyful. And happy. And peaceful. And grateful. And content.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Are we letting something in our life steal our joy? How will we choose to act today? If we are grateful for what we have rather than resentful about what we are missing, happiness will prevail.