Positivity Press #37

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I had an encounter with an older woman on my tram station and it just got me to thinking and I wanted to share it with you here on The Positivity Press.

This weekend has been a bit crazy for me. I attended my cousin’s wedding and since we are Bosnian the wedding never ends, there was 450 people there, I was tired because I worked in the morning and then traveled for more than 2 hours to get to the wedding etc. Then on Sunday I was demolishing the floor of my apartment with my mom. My legs are covered in bruises and cuts because I am clumsy and I had to work with a lot of sharp things and since I had to take all of that garbage in front of our building (you can guess I live in a building without an elevator and on the last floor) I got sore muscles. I’m not in shape. Fuck it.

Then yesterday, on Monday, I spent most of my day in Zagreb because I worked the afternoon shift, my train schedule is awful and I just wasted the whole day. But there I was, in Zagreb, waiting for my tram and an older lady came and asked if the seat next to me was taken. I told her she can sit and I noticed that her clothes were a bit worn out and that she seemed very tired. She told me she wasn’t feeling well to which I replied that it must be the heat because it’s very hot in Zagreb. Then she replied saying that she had a mild stroke a few days back and that she was going to the hospital on some type of observation. My jaw dropped when she told me that. I wished her good luck and then I noticed that she was alone, having had a mild stroke, on her way to the hospital with her stuff in two plastic bags. And there I was, with Nike shoes on, my smartphone and lunch in my bag complaining about going to work. I am going to be quite honest and say I was ashamed of the fact that at first I thought she was going to beg me for money or to buy her a tram ticket or something like that. I would have gladly done so if she asked. I was even thinking about asking her if she wanted me to buy her some water since it was very hot outside but I was scared she would get offended. I feel shitty now for not asking.

She even apologized for telling me she was going to the hospital and then it hit me that she maybe didn’t have no one else to tell it to. Maybe she didn’t have family, grandchildren or someone else to take care of her and I complained about being tired from attending a wedding that was full of my cousins, uncles etc. She was going to spend the night in the hospital, I was going to sleep in my bed. I could go on with this.

That short conversation with her made me think about how many stuff in my life I take for granted, how much I complain and make myself blind to all of the things I have in life like health, clean air, clothes, technology, education, family, job. I think that a lot of our own misery comes from taking people and things for granted. That’s actually the message I wanted to share through this story. Appreciate more. Love more. Be more grateful.

I don’t think that you can’t have worries because someone has it worse than you, but I think we should all focus on the good we have in our life. That woman made me feel grateful for going to a job that’s going to provide for me, made me feel grateful that my health is in good condition, and maybe she was grateful to be able to tell someone what happened to her, just to let it out. Notice these little things and allow them to teach you a lesson.

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