November 20, The Thumper Rule

Right... so, on prompt free weekends, I let my hair down a little and write from Planet Kaere... which these days, is a cluttered, jumbled up mess.   And that's okay.  I survive clutter, and chaos, and lack of sleep and a million demands on my time, skills, and whatever other spare or essential parts I have laying around.  But what I don't deal well with is the stubborn refusal to learn anything and move forward.  I don't deal well with those I refer to as "stuck on stupid"  and yes... that's exactly how I say it.   Or I ask the question "Who flicked your stupid switch?"  and you know what... that's not really very nice of me.   What it is is that I'm surrounded by people who want to ask a question instead of do the work to obtain an answer on their own.   I think I've had to walk out of my building at least once a day ever day for the last two weeks so thatI could say, outloud, "I should not have to think for you, ffs, think it through and arrive at an answer, then ask the question 'Is such and such the way to deal with this?'"   So... I'm a bit frustrated... because the people who are being paid to do the jobs that require thinking are not thinking, and my job, which requires planning and physically doing, is being interupted all the time to think for someone else.  And that would be all well and good if for every minute I lost to thinking for them, they spent a minute doing for me...  but it doesn't work that way.   I just get further and further behind.  So the thing is, that I often have to just call the Thumper Rule... "If you can't say sumpin' nice, don't say nuffin' at all."    And it saves my sanity a few times every day.  Because I get really angry at the questions that could be answered by walking ten steps and looking, or that I  answered for you yesterday.   Okay... so I'm a smart girl, and I tend to overthink things, but that doesn't mean that every one around me gets to stop thinking. And I work while I'm thinking, and if I get lost in the thinking only then do I get some help.  So... the Thumper Rule... is one of those things I have to keep in my life because I can get down right nasty when I'm feeling pressured and one more person asks me one more question that is only being asked because someone else doesn't want to do the work to arrive at an answer.   So when I sound exasperated when you ask me one more question, understand that it's not that I don't want to help you, but that I want you to help yourself-- and exasperation is much better than me saying what I'm thinking at that moment, which is something along the lines of--- oh wait... Thumper Rule. 

Make something beautiful with your heart and your hands,
Kaere