Psych 101

I think it's fair to say I've always been a moody person.  It never took much to make me turn on a dime.  As I've aged, the moodiness has increased.  Medication (not just for that) helps some, but menopause has kicked it into high gear.  This evening, I experienced both extremely highs and extremely lows within a matter of minutes.  I'm proud of myself for escaping on a positive note. 

After work, I went to Best Buy in search of an old Jason Aldean CD, released in 2006. I knew there wasn't much chance of them having it, but figured I'd give it a shot.  When I got to the CD section, wouldn't you know, there was a guy standing right in front of the -A-s.  As I tried to peak around him, I saw him reach for a CD.  Yeah, a Jason Aldean CD.  I picked up the only one left and it was the wrong one.  I said something to him about how funny we were both looking at the same artist, and told him which one I was trying to find.  He pulled a CD out of the stack he was holding and asked "is this it?"  Sure was -- and he told me to take it.  I asked if he was sure, and he said yes, so I thanked him profusely and happily bought my CD.  How awesome! 

I decided to grab a bite to eat at Taco Bell.  If you're familiar with the Taco Bell on Wanamaker, you know how congested the drive through line can get.  Of course it was backed up onto the road leading into Best Buy, so I kept going and drove around to come into the parking lot from the other side.  I drove around front and there were a few cars in line.  I made sure I knew which car was the last one in line when I pulled up, and planned to merge into the line behind it.  Another car came whipping along and no doubt saw me sitting there and decided she was not going to allow me in front of her.  She kept on the tail of the car in front of her so there was absolutely no way I could squeeze in.  Of course my immediate reaction was rage.  I tried staring her down, but she wouldn't even look at me.  I cussed at her.  And then, I realized none of that was helping.  In the meantime, another car pulled in behind her, but she didn't crowd, and graciously let me in front of her.  As I sat in the line thinking about how she didn't have to do that, I decided to pay for her food.  It wasn't much -- she must have been a light eater!  But it wouldn't have mattered.  I just wanted to pay it forward.  First for the nice guy at Best Buy who helped me, and of course for the woman herself.  I got my food, paid for the orders, and headed on down the road.  As always the first thing I went to do is put my straw in my drink.  But guess what -- they didn't give me a straw.  Normally, this would set me off again.  I'd be cussing the drive through worker and Taco Bell in general.  But... BUT, I guess I felt so good about what had just happened, I just thought "oh well -- I'll just drink it without a straw"  That never happens!  I never let things go like that! 

I'm not writing about this so everyone will know I did something nice for a stranger.  I guess I'm just sharing the lesson I learned today; positive behavior begets positive behavior.  But then, you already knew that, didn't you?

It was the search for this song that got this whole ball of positivity rolling...