Stress, Relief, and Emotional Vapor: An Aimless and Meandering Collection of Words and Phrases

Today has been long and difficult day to say the least. A few days ago, I wrote about my recent frustrations with a trainer who was conducting a class that I needed to pass in order to maintain my new employment. I got a few relevant comments on that post (which tells me that someone actually read it) so I thought it would be appropriate to write a quick update with, as always, a few sprinkles of pseudo-philosophy mixed in here and there. For those of you who missed my last post, I had been undergoing training for a major function that I am expected to preform for my (relatively) new career. I had been extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the instruction that was intended to provide me with the information that I needed to pass the exam. Now, the test has come and gone and, to remove all the sweet, tasty suspense, I passed. I still don't particularly care for my former trainer's teaching techniques but I am happy enough to no longer care about that anymore.

Passing my test is all well and good but it is not why I fired up this old, cigarette ash covered laptop. From the time I awoke this morning until I received the revelation of my exam results (about half passed four), I was in a state of near panic but upon reading the word "pass,"which was unceremoniously printed at the bottom of my result sheet in small font, I felt a wave of relief and euphoria. After the other students and I finished congratulating each other and the pure joy had subsided, I was astonished by how rapidly psychological states can swap places. I don't know if I really have a point to argue about this subject (which is something that I usually try to have when I write) but I found the sensation to be remarkable and, that being the case, I thought that I should share a few remarks.

A realization (I hesitate to call it that because I think this is something that we all know but rarely remember) came to me. I consciously understood that in the moment or moments of experiencing an emotion, it feels as though it is eternal. The dominate emotion pushes the others to the side, out of the view of the minds eye. We, for a time, forget what it means to experience anything else and the ruling emotion feels as though it is and always has been a fundamental part of our being. However, what feels true is not always what is true. Our emotions are vapor and another can blow in on a new wind at any moment. That may be a "way-too-complicated" method of saying that we shouldn't overreact when we feel angry, or nervous, or sad, which is no great secret, but it is also something that we can all catch ourselves doing if we try (plus I'm too tired to come up with anything better right now).

Alright, it is time for me to eat and get ready for bed so I will stop rambling here. I have some days off soon so I will write something more substantial, polished and better planned then.

Peace.

All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.