Why a Pet Peeve?

9/13/2022

Dear Why Team member,
When’s the last time you remembered to be grateful for what you have, even for the little annoyances we in this country get to call “1st world problems”?

Audio: 🗣

I guess spiritual people put a great deal of effort in letting go and embracing gratitude as the only form of being but, for many of us, sometimes little annoyances can turn into pet peeves. Is that bad?
Let’s think about it.

Gotta Pet Peeve?

Why do we call them pet peeves? Could it be that we care for them, feed them, like a pet?!
Why?
What value do we get from feeding them? When experiencing a pet peeve most of us talk about it, we gesticulate maybe to show our annoyance, then in turn that draws attention to us and maybe that attention feeds our need to be…important, someone that’s noticed.

I have one that I feed.
When I enter or exit a business establishment that has double doors, usually glass doors, I’m lucky and often find the one that is not unlocked. You know the drill, you push or pull on the locked one and I guess the business establishment knows that through the process of elimination, their customers will try the other door to discover it unlocked. Now, the only reason that I can imagine where a business would make it more challenging for customers to enter or to exit comes down to the person responsible for opening the store for business in the morning and/or closing it at night. One door is certainly faster and easier to unlock, to unlatch. For my part, I have fun laboring with the locked door, should I be lucky enough to choose it first. Having a flair for the dramatic, I have pushed and pulled with the locked door as if I am locked in or locked out. I have yet to do this to the point of waving down an employee inside, but the thought has now crossed my mind. It's a pet peeve I obviously enjoy feeding. It really is just more for fun, but I find it interesting that I do it at all. I would like to think these encounters with locked doors do not matter, but clearly, I have chosen a self-righteous position concerning WHY just one door is unlocked and not both.

According to the world wide web, the most common pet peeves are chewing sounds. Being frustrated by the sound someone makes when chewing a crunchy fruit or slurping a bowl of soup is a pretty common annoyance, it seems. Consider your pet peeves, are they fun for you, entertaining, or do they do more to upset your peace? If they're upsetting, why keep feeding them? Does the irritation sometimes linger and irritate your entire day?

Maybe I could allow the locked door to remind me to accept things as they are, rather than choose the self-righteous position that I know what's best.

Consider your pet peeves and the next time they arise, ask yourself why you feed them. Who knows, maybe I'll eventually enter a business establishment that kept one door locked and I won't think twice about it. But I doubt it - it's just too fun.

Consider maybe only feeding your favorite pet peeves and letting go of the rest. Life is too short to not have fun!

May you be grateful for all your doors that you get to open freely this week…and if not, try another one, a door WILL eventually open.

Make it a great week!

Steve Luckenbach

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