Adulting: Doing the Very Things That Annoy Us...

I’ve had to drink a big ole cup of truth about myself. Those things other people do that annoy me? I do as well.

ARGH. Why?

This horrible realization was made VERY clear to me the other day when I answered my door to pick up a delivery. As an American who lives in the United Kingdom, I hear the accents all day long, especially the word “Brilliant!” When I took the item from the gal doing the delivery, I was extremely pleased, and I said the first thing that popped into my mind: “It’s brilliant!”

I closed the door and I groaned inwardly. Seriously Gina? All I could think of was the Friends episode where Monica and Rachel’s American pal comes back from England and annoys them all with her overly exaggerated/fake English accent. I know people in real life like her. I’ve been known to judge people like her.

So, I defended myself, to myself (a little weird, I know). Why did I say that word?

I really think it’s because I hear it so often. I think also because I’ve noticed my English neighbors don’t use the same small talk words that I use, so I feel self-conscious and try to blend in and borrow their words. I wasn’t just suddenly ‘fancying’ myself British while making an embarrassing attempt at a British accent.

As I’ve gotten older, I’m less judgmental, but apparently a little of it is still alive and well and doing the tango. Unfortunately, it takes my own mishaps to help me understand why people do what they do - AND even more humbling, the very things that annoy the living daylights out of me.