Reactions

We all have various reactions over the course of a day. Some are good and some are not. Most of the time, we don’t even think about it.

We can be excited, upset, mindful and irritated all within a very short time span.

Sometimes we react to situations we are in, other times it’s a comment that a person made to us or even a look that someone gave us.

Reactions are a fact of life. Every day we have them.

Sometimes we react badly in a tense moment and wish we could take it back. Sometimes, we just can’t stop laughing because of something that happened, but they happen throughout the course of our day.

Have you ever stopped to think about what you will say before you react? Have you ever thought about the words that will come out of your mouth? Are you the type of person who just says and does things in a moment that are sometimes destructive or hurtful?

I think if we are honest, we can all say that we have had and done things that have hurt someone’s feelings or upset someone or made a situation worse at some point in our life. If you haven’t, then I commend you!

Our son can get upset over things that do not bother a typical child to the extreme that it bothers him. For example, WIFI is a huge issue in our house. Everything is great as long as the WIFI is up and running well. The last couple of years, there has been vast improvement in this area with our son. Before, he would get anxious or tense while waiting for a video to load onto YouTube and as we all know sometimes computers or phones can be glitchy to the point that you have to power them down and restart them. Like I said, huge improvements have happened in our house for which I am extremely grateful.

But, at times, there can still be issues. These issues can stem from being in a bad mood or having a long day or just being impatient. You know the last thing that kind of pushes you over the edge.

I have been so used to dealing with internet issues that I can feel myself getting tense if things are not working properly and my reaction can be one of sheer panic especially at the point in the day when things need to wind down for the evening.

The other day (it was a Saturday) our son woke up early and told me that YouTube was not working. I looked at it and thought that I perhaps just needed to re-boot the modem. So up I got and went downstairs only to find out that not only was the internet not working, but neither was our home phone or our TV

Anyway, after a bit of time, I started to feel myself tense up (and inwardly panic) because it was early on a Saturday and I had been looking forward to just getting up and relaxing with my coffee. Is that bad?

Of course, my husband was out at the time. I called my Mom to see if her internet and TV were working and to my surprise there were thousands of people without services. So, everything was still relatively calm but I didn’t want to experience any drama so I decided to forgo my shower, get dressed and venture out shopping (without coffee!)

We went shopping for a bit and the entire time, I was trying to find out if things had started working yet. I mean, how can so many people be without services for such a long period of time?

When we were both done with shopping, I decided that we better go home and see what was going on and try to get something to eat. I didn’t really want to go back home without internet, but we did. Our son was still fine but I wondered in my head what we were going to do if things did not start working.

Fortunately, just as we got home, everything seemed to be up again. I was secretly relived so now I could just chill for a bit!  Our reactions have a big impact on people we interact with. If my son sees that I am upset, he may get upset too. If he sees me calmly handle a situation, he will watch and learn these skills and hopefully be able to put them into use in his life the next time he comes across a situation that doesn’t go his way. It’s all in the way I react at times as to how things will go down.

Of course, we are all human, so we are not always able to control our reactions all the time and we have to realize that it’s okay not to be perfect all the time.

I have noticed in the past while with our son, when he is getting upset over something (whatever it may be at the moment) when I remain calm and help him solve the problem, that he is more patient and more able to be part of the resolution and he is learning life-long problem-solving skills in the process.

Reactions are part of our daily life, so it’s something we can always work on improving!