I have a flat tire. Which is annoying as fuck. If only because I have to get it to the tire place with a flat tire. I went to the pharmacy to pick up my med. A man in the parking lot politely told me my tire was flat and suggested I put air in it. I went to the gas station to do that, and it filled ,but then flattened again. On the drive home, it was very flat. Like really flat. I called my brother (because he is my handyman), and he’s coming over tomorrow morning to help me put the spare on. I made an appointment with a tire place for Saturday afternoon so as long as I don’t have an emergency today (knock on wood), I should be fine.
It reminded me, though, that minor irritants can be more aggravating on the daily than majjor issues. Like, I went through somehing no one else has (dying twice and being in a coma), but except for the first few weeks home, it didn’t really affect my life in a significant way*.
This still blows my mind when I think about it in depth. Something that literally changed my life was also something I did not have to deal with (physically) a few weeks after it happened. How can a flat tire be more irritating than dying twice??
My theory is that because I’m someone with PTSD and a ‘worst case scenario’ mentality, I’m geared towards the hard stuff. I am aces in a crisis. I’m calm, cool, and collected. When it comes to petty shit, though, I am so irritated. It takes me zero seconds to not lose my cool. I think it’s because my mentality is that the small shit should not be happening. The big stuff? Yeah, I expect that. But the small stuff? Not expected.
Also, not having a car is a pain in the ass. Even if I don’t use it on the regular, not being able to use it is annoying.
Side note: This is very much the mentality between want and need. People bitch all the time about how much gas costs, but then buy an overpriced, overroasted Starbucks coffee every day. One is a need and the other is a want. If you have to pay for something (gas), then of course you’re going to be more irritated when it costs more than you think it should than if it’s a cup of coffee that you choose to buy.