HOW ARE YOU REACTING TO THE COCKROACH? By Mercy Karumba

A Story is told about a cockroach incident at a restaurant. Not known where it came from, a cockroach suddenly landed on a lady who was calmly seated. Not knowing what to do with it, she started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious in the restaurant as everyone also got into panic mode. She managed to finally push the cockroach away but it landed on another lady. Now it was the turn of the second lady to proceed with the drama scene. It was indeed a sight to behold. The waiter on seeing what was happening, rushed forward to their rescue. In the process, the cockroach fell on the waiter.

However, contrary to the previous ‘cockroach victims’ the waiter stood firm, took a breath and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his hands and threw it out of the restaurant.

I know some of us will be like, ‘Oh but he’s a man’(lol). That’s not the point; he just didn’t allow the cockroach to determine his reaction. The cockroach that fell on the two ladies was the very same one that fell on the waiter and trust me, I doubt I would have reacted any better. But the waiter handled it with so much calmness and composure.

In our lives, we face situations and people who may often get on our nerves. The question is how much control do we let such people/situations have over us? How many times do we sit back, breathe in, watch the trend of the situation/behaviour of the person before reacting? It is not how severe the situation or frustration is that gets over us, it is our inability to handle and respond wisely that affects us.

So the next time you are caught in traffic or someone cuts you in a line, you don’t need to insult anyone or get carried away. All you need do is, take a deep breathe and say,”this will not spoil my day!”. The next time someone shouts or intimidates you, relax, do not respond, realize that they are not worth your anger and move on trying to get them off your mind; I understand that this quite hard however, who said that, that which is right is always easy? And the next time you are so agitated by an issue in your family, school or workplace, it is okay to feel the anger, but it’s not wise to respond to it. So remember the cockroach theory, and treat the situation/person as the cockroach and then choose to act like the waiter and not the ‘Victim’ of the cockroach. To read more posts by Mercy, click HERE

Photo credit: Rentokil