Last week I was excited to discover that my favourite comedian, Russell Howard, was doing a show here. I showed my boyfriend a few clips for his approval, and then went to the theatre to buy the tickets. I got the ok from work to leave early, and shortly after 10pm on Saturday we were anxiously waiting for the show to begin. What I didn’t know was that some dude directly behind me was going to test my irritation levels.
The show got underway shortly before 11pm. The first act was some dude from Brooklyn. He was moderately funny. American humour is not really my thing. Then Russell came onto the stage. I cannot express the level of excitement I was feeling. It was incredible. But my excitement soon ebbed to annoyance and irritation as the dude behind me began his attention-seeking.
It is a mystery to me why some people feel the need to receive acknowledgement from “celebrities.” Sure, it would be cool, but this dude was going to the extreme to be recognised. He was cackling, screeching, whistling, yelling, and acting like a right twat. He was the extreme opposite of a heckler. And right in my ear. It was so obnoxious, I struggled to focus on the show I had been so excited to see. And because of my irritation, I very nearly ruined my boyfriend’s night. I also missed a hugely vital point that Russell was trying to make. To laugh. We will always be confronted with things/people that will stress us out. We need to make each other happy, laugh, smile, and not let those minute downers destroy us.
My problem is I have little patience for annoying/stupid people. I think I have very little patience period. And this dude really set me off. I really tried to block him out, but I was already anticipating his cajoling so I couldn’t. When we got out of the theatre, I let it all out. I let out a steam of hateful, nasty, very mean language. What made it worse was all the people around who heard me. What knocked me to my senses was when my boyfriend said I sounded like an asshole.
I felt very justified in my anger, but truth is I wasn’t. There is no excuse for my reaction. Jeffry also never called me an asshole. He said I sounded miserable. Which was true. On both accounts. I regularly let people and things affect my attitude and bring me down. I struggle at letting it just bounce off me. Horace said this:
“The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.”