We have a cupboard in our kitchen that contains, almost exclusively, plastic food containers and their lids. Well, in principle anyway, there are not lids to match all the Tupperware containers in there. I’m also almost completely convinced that they are alive, conspiring against me! First off, where would the lids go? I wouldn’t throw them away, and I’d hardly let a friend borrow just a lid, without it’s accompanying bowl, now would I? So what is going on in that cupboard? Have the larger containers eaten the lids? Have they cut a slit in the back of the cupboard through which they have passed all the lids, and then giggle and wink at each other while I fumble through the stacks of covers to eventually shut the doors in frustration; empty handed? I know for sure they are conspiring against me! As soon as I open the cupboard some of the large containers with sharpish corners fall straight onto my toes or bounce and hit my ankles! Others are ‘sent’ to jump wide of my size 11’s and to bounce and roll under an appliance or too far out of my reach and I have to go and get them, and as I turn my back the cupboard empties itself of its contents and they ‘know’ I have to now pack it all away! They are good! I’m sure they snicker, grin and high 5 each other while I irritatingly try to catch, gather and repack them, just to find they don’t actually all fit back in there! I’m thinking about raising a white flag and pitching it in the middle of the kitchen and letting the Tupperware just claim that the kitchen is theirs. Secretly I’ll know I’m still the boss, but don’t tell the salad saver!
Before you think I’m totally loopy and nothing good could come of this silly post, let me assure you I’m actually heading somewhere. Strange things like this happen to everyone in some way or the other, and not always to do with a kitchen cupboard. My issue is my attitude. You can ask my wife; there are days that I laugh when this kind of thing happens and just shake my head, and repack the stupid cupboard, or whatever the issue of the day might be. What happens isn’t serious or anything; it’s not life threatening and it’s a minor inconvenience, but there are days that it’s like the world is ending and I am so irritated and my response or my behaviour is so unnecessary. My response is aggressive or irritated, and as a result my mood and those around me are so negatively affected, it can take ages to ‘reset’ and it’s all just unpleasant, and for what? For something so silly? It’s surely not worth it.
Does this happen to you? What works best for you in defusing a bad mood situation?