Mark Entrekin's Blog

 

What the F…rustration?

Jun 11, 2024

Isn’t frustration the “catch-all” for all our problems? 

When there is not enough time to do what we want, what do we get? Frustrated! 

When there is not enough money to do what we want, what do we get? Frustrated! 

When there is not enough of this or not enough of that or when there is too much of this or too much of that, what do we get? Frustrated! 

What the F…rustration!!!!

Have we all heard the story of the parent and the dog? And thank you for not allowing yourself to be frustrated about me using the term “parent!” 😁🤣 Please accept the term parent as you feel it fits best as we do not want to judge if the parent was a mother, father, he, she or other! 😄 We can be caring of all, non-biased, without becoming frustrated! 

The story starts with a parent presenting a new proposal at the office in an executive meeting. During the meeting, a couple of fellow team members blast the presentation as if it were their idea or saying those ideas will not work because of a multitude of other lame excuses.  

Of course, the parent’s frustration starts because no one helped support any of the ideas. After all, the fellow team members had been with the company long enough that they had gained respect based on their longevity, their time with the company, but their ideas were old and mostly based on the way things “used” to be. 

The parent goes back to their office and throws the report on the desk in frustration at about the same time the phone rings from their children’s school. The school says it is being let out early that day and they must pick the kids up from school. They must leave work immediately. Leaving the office early means the report must be reviewed and updated at home tonight so the updates can be re-presented tomorrow. 

Then, on the way to the school to quickly pick up the children, the traffic is bumper to bumper. Every traffic light seems to turn red as the vehicle reaches the intersection. Once they reach the school, the children get into the car complaining about how long it took the parent to arrive and they are also arguing on and on about some other minor incident at school. 

Finally, when they arrive home, the parent opens the door as the kids rush past and push their way through. The parent struggles in with arms full, walks into the home office to put the presentation from work down and here comes their dog running around the parent and jumping up and down in front of them. While attempting to avoid the dog, the parent drops the presentation and the parent, in frustration, kicks at the dog! 

What the F…rustration? Is it the parent’s frustration, or the problem, the dog's fault? 

As we go through life, building our successes, some things happen that are outside of our control. The way we manage or oversee those uncontrollable happenings is under our control. 

Does kicking at the dog help anyone or anything? No. The dog is only showing its love toward the parent in the only way the dog knows how. It is in our control to teach the dog. 

Animals express their love by being near us in one way or another. How are we expressing our love toward one another? Is uncontrollably expressing our frustrations showing anyone or anything our love or caring? No. Would allocating some of our already limited time to train the dog, and control our frustrations, help us in the long run? Yes. 

Too many times, we do not want to share new, beneficial ideas with others because some of them only want to stick with the old way. They only want to do things the same old way because it “fits” their comfort level.

As we talk about comfort levels, when some of us read the paragraph above about using the term parent instead of “genderizing” the term as a he, she or other, many of us will quickly become uncomfortable and identify the term with the opposite gender of our own! 😄 Is it always the “other” gender, or “someone else,” that is causing the problem? Is the “other gender” the one that does not do enough of this or that or too much of this or that? 😄🤣 

Is the old way, the catch-all way, a comfort level that we have accepted? Why do we genderize situations to get around our frustration? Isn’t that the old way just like blaming the dog? 

What the F…rustration?  

Frustration is ours. Yes, we create our own frustrations. We can work together and get beyond those frustrations and understand what works for us without allowing someone else to control our actions or reactions. 

We must learn that some days may be too long and too many days are too short. The way we manage things beyond our control demonstrates our level of maturity and security. We must not fall back to our frustrations of immaturity and insecurity!

We can go from What the F…rustration to What the F…ascination! Our fascinations can provide us with a much better view of our future successes than any frustration!

 

If you, or someone you know, would like to learn more about transforming their frustrations of today into a fascinating tomorrow, please schedule time with me quickly. I coach and collaborate with individuals, groups and enterprises as a Sr. Life Transformational Coach to develop new habits and sustainable improvements as we resolve issues by creating solutions at home, in the office and socially.  

I would also be honored to speak at your next event on Achieving Unity to as many Associations, Corporations and Colleges/Universities as possible. Do you, or someone you know, schedule speaking events? 

Please contact me today at 303-362-8733 (303-Focused). 

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