Daily Annoyance: How to Deal

The apple slices were not floating. They were just sitting lazily on a tiny base. I helped them tuck in. But their glassy companion and the clumsy settlement—they didn’t look good at all. Their unfriendly look was pretty vocal, and I felt as if the glass and the apple slices were all forcing bear hugs. I picked up some slices and stored them in a container. I brought the flavored water to my desk. Then I started my quotidian ritual with the laptop, earphones, and notebook, but everything was a bit slow. But fortunately, my momentum rushed back from last night’s snoring.

After some minutes, a sharp drilling sound echoed. I didn’t count, but perhaps when it hit for the 87th time, I banged my notebook on the desk. The glass jounced. I held it tightly. But some water splashed out.

Later, I got to know that our neighbor’s balcony was getting a new swing. I guess they weren’t happy either with the size or length, or they were trying some exotic approaches to fit that giant into a corner. Whatever it might be, the amygdala of my brain was irascible about this extra beat. I tried my best to compensate for it with lo-fi music, and that too at the highest possible volume. I fear this compensation wasn’t enough to tame down my overly incessant imaginary clouds. They were popping out with hazy questions. One was the poorest: "If I had to study in this noise forever, I would have jumped around with the pieces of the laptop."

Another one was the weirdest: "If I had a tattoo artist nearby, I would’ve asked to scribble the entire Alcyoneus galaxy on my wrist."

In that one hour, I had a list of ways to deal. As if I never knew that it had an end. But my clasping disquietude was blind. That "me" was obnoxiously loud.

This experience had two sides. One, when I did not force the apple slices to fit in, and another, when I didn’t help myself to make some parleys with the angry me. I had ways to deal with the latter, but…I didn’t initiate anything. In that noise, I could have done a few other things. I could have decluttered my laptop data, fixed the old drawer issue, completed the undone painting, or... Honestly, now I am thinking about this list, and it is quite long.

We see problems. We see the annoying time frames. We see the trivial flock of anticipated consequences. But do we really rethink if we’re missing out on the tiny folds of realization?

We feel that we’re always in a mess, but do we reconsider our actions during each kerfuffle? We want positive movement desperately, but subconsciously, we keep ourselves boxed in when the stone actually can move. It’s undeniable that at some point we face absurd obstacles in our lives, and then our initial reactions might not follow any number cruncher. But the time block of this "initial reaction" can be reduced to the minimum, if we initiate some sort of calculative approach.

We can go on like this,

"Can I change this situation?

If yes, then how fast can I do that?

If not, then what are my broader concerns?"

If disturbance and aspiration are on the same page, then how can we be affable towards our work? We ought to prioritize one. I call that priority Ina*. Daily annoyance is not a freebie; rather, it’s like a prickling pinch from the most annoying opponent. It’s a daily match, and we should know the best way to win every day.

(*In Sanskrit, Ina (इन).—a. means determined or anything that is powerful.)