Whenever I feel frustrated, I would usually remember a quote I heard somewhere before. It goes something like "Expectation is the mother of all disappointments".
It was because I expected someone to act in a certain way (usually how I would act if I were him/her) but he/she didn't, so I'd call this person irresponsible in my mind.
But God would remind me to turn my reflection inward. I'd say to myself it's because you had expectations that's why you were disappointed. It doesn't matter whether my expectations were just or reasonable. Truth of the matter is, you cannot expect others to act the way you want them to. Doing so will just make you angry and frustrated.
Another realization I'd have is that as people get older their patience get shorter (in my case anyway). I tell myself you used to be more patient when you were younger. Patient in the sense that I didn't expect things to go my way when I was in my teens or 20s. But now that I'm older, I have certain habits or preferences that make me inflexible to the preferences of others. I was just thinking the other night about 2 kinds of people. One that says "tthis is what I want, adjust to me". Or one that says, "Is this what you want? Okay I'll adjust to you". Sadly enough as I get older I see myself acting like the former. And this is not the person I want to become.
I sometimes reprimand myself by saying, "When have you become this narcissistic person that it should all be about you? About your schedule? About your convenience? About your likes and dislikes?" So I take a step back and control my tongue and reaction for fear that I might say or do something I might regret. Once you've put it out there, it's hard to take it back.
I'm just so thankful that God's mercies are new every morning and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can always change for the better.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. - 2 Corinthians 5:17
