Penalty Box

This year my life is about moving forward, onward and upward to bigger and better things.  In doing that I have decided that people who are not supportive of this process need to be punished.  I place them in a "penalty box."  Sometimes the penalty box is glass and sometimes it is cement.  Now the penalty box is not necessarily permanent, but if someone says something that I feel is not supportive, I will not acknowledge it and need a bit of a break from said person.  

I find that in taking a little break from that person, I am able to put their comments into perspective, and more often than not I discover that the problem has little to do with me.  Normally it is an issue that they have.  So I am putting myself in their shoes, in a way that any caring friend would.  

This goes for men in my life as well.  If they are not acting in a way that I find appropriate for someone that I want in my life, I place them in said penalty box.  This may mean that I do not respond to their texts/phone calls right away.  (Advice I got from my father btw.)  It may mean more than that.  But it always means letting them know I am unhappy with their behavior, not in a big way, but matter of fact. This prevents me from holding something in and blowing up later about the 25 things that I didn't like previously.  It also allows me to think about things, put myself in their shoes, and understand where they might be coming from.  

At first I thought the penalty box was about the people around me not acting right, but the more I think about it I find that it is about me.  About understanding the people in my life and the struggles they may have without trying to change them.  Just letting them be, in the penalty box or otherwise.