Bus Passing The Other Way
Before I go to bed at night, I mostly make sure my bag is ready for work the next day. In the morning when I leave, my iPod is in my coat pocket. If not by the time I arrive at the bus stop, then as soon as I'm standing there, my bus pass goes into the other coat pocket, ready to be flashed at the bus driver.
This morning everything went according to plan and I sat down on the bus. I watched a woman across from me struggling to make sure none of her belongings fell on the floor while she kept her balance as she dug through her bag looking for $1.50.
I was fascinated by this. She stood at the bus stop with me. She just stood there doing nothing. Why didn't she use that time to organize her things and get her money ready? Then she could have been sitting down instead of struggling for balance.
What makes some people plan ahead and others deal with things as they come up? Is she a happier person for not worrying and planning ahead? Does her life work easily despite the lack of planning?
Are there people who don't plan ahead for some little things but do plan ahead for other things? How do they decide which things to plan for? Are they better at rolling with the punches than I am when things come up unexpectedly?
Labels: Interactive, Overthinking, People watching
posted by Green at 12/20/2007 10:09:00 PM
8 Comments:
I think about this when I see the same type of thing happening. For me, I am much happier when I plan ahead. I mean, I wouldn't want everyone staring at me, wondering why I didn't have my money ready. Esp when I KNEW that I was going to need it.
OMG! I do the same thing every night. My clothes are laid out, my bag is packed, and my lunch is in the fridge ready to go. I would lose my mind if I had to do all of that stuff in the morning.
Don't even get me started, this is one of my biggest pet peeves! I'd stand in line at my favorite coffee place, with exact change ready in hand, and I'd get stuck behind a woman who's carrying the world's biggest handbag and is chatting away with someone on the phone about something inconsequential. And then when it comes time for her to order, she hasn't decided on what she'd like (because she was too busy talking on the phone) and when she has to pay, she has to bury her little head into her huge bag to get a freakin' credit card! For coffee! You wouldn't believe how often this happens.
I don't know how people survive not being prepared even for the smallest things like getting coffee!
I always have change ready... but I often click on the comments section with nothing to say.
Uh... happy holidays!
I'm like you, and married to someone like the lady you saw. Simple answer, no, it doesn't bother them at all to not be prepared, and in fact, they have short term memory and after they finally get the money out and get on the bus and have sat down, they have already forgotten the whole ordeal. Things like that don't bother them at all. It would drive me crazy (and my husband does drive me crazy all the time) but they are able to function in life and their personalities just aren't bothered by this. In fact, my husband gets annoyed at how I "obsess" with being prepared when we could just work out any needs we have as they arrive. So we look just as strange to them as they do to us.
On the bright side, when something totally unexpected happens that I'm not prepared for, I tend to get stressed and depending on how big of an issue it is, I even get overwhelmed, where he simply steps up and takes care of it without a single problem. So we complement each other, even if we do drive each other crazy.
okay, I had to kind of laugh at the comment above - just because it's same with us. However, when life throws a curveball at us, I am still expected to be prepared for it and/or step up with a solution. Which is totally unfair.
Hell, I'm the kind of person who wants to drive in the correct lane for the next turn (left or right) even though I won't be turning for at least several miles. And yes, I can see how THAT would drive the other types crazy.
I would like to believe that these people are Buddhas in our midst, lving in the very moment, but I don't. I think Buddha would be aware, and enlightened to other people's feelings and want to go with the flow of life.
Or I'm full of shit, it's a toss up.
I HATE when people do that. I have everything prepared before I leave and the worst is when they are in fornt of you holding up the line!
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