Stop Blaming People for Things that You Can Control

Photo by Eutah Mizushima on Unsplash

I was sitting on the train en route back to New York City after spending the weekend at my parent’s house when I noticed that my phone was on low battery. In a panic, I frantically rummaged through my purse to look for my portable phone charger. To my misfortune, my portable charger had too run out of battery.

I had purchased my train ticket on my iPhone, so I felt an immediate wave of anxiety that my phone would die before the train ticket collector could receive my ticket. I then started getting gradually more frustrated at the fact that he was taking so long to get to my seat.

In my head, I thought, “Well he’s the one who was taking so long to get to me — It’s not my fault that my phone was on low battery.” I removed myself from any shred of responsibility of the fact that I could have (and really should have) just charged my phone prior to boarding the train.

As a last resort, I put my phone on airplane mode in hopes that it would salvage the little battery life that I had left. And fortunately, it did. The ticket collector arrived before my phone died and I was rid of my anxiety and frustration.

Then, I got to thinking about how often we put blame on others for such minuscule situations that could have easily avoided if only we were more prepared or more proactive in our…