I've seen this before on the interwebs, but coming across it this morning it stuck with me.
There were a few things I saw here that kickstarted a couple of 'realignments' for me.
I'm currently working on a really terrific production of Hello, Dolly! in Sacramento. One of the other folks who's part of the team in a different department has clearly decided on having some kind of issue with me. I have no idea what it is - we don't have a huge amount of interaction. But, he's decided to have a problem.
Last night, during a rehearsal, he made a point of pushing me out of his way while I was in the middle of giving someone a note about dancing. There was no emergency, we weren't in a performance. He just decided to push me out of his way.
My initial reaction was to pull him aside and address the issue in the moment. Who am I kidding? My first thought was to shove him back. But I was busy doing my job.
The incident stuck with me though. I went in and out of options: Should I have punched him? Should I take this to the producer? Should I make preparations for constructing a virulently angry voodoo doll?
Then I woke up to this list of common sense and realized I don't need to "do" anything. This guy is on his own journey, and the best way for me to cope with the intersection of his issues on my path is to "Don't argue" and "Be kind to unkind people."
I'm not a saint. I'd still like to shove him back. But it wouldn't fix his issues or my issues with his issues. The second I read the above list, it was easy to let it go.
Did I mention this production of Hello, Dolly! is looking really awesome? I love my theater tribe.
Don't sweat the small stuff; it's all small stuff.
Forward.
Happy Monday!
