Rent-free

I think I need some new strategies for dealing with people who frustrate me.

One of the things about working with young adults is that your job requires a lot of interaction with people who are still figuring out professional norms. What's the line between self-advocacy and entitlement? When should you ask for what you want and when should you suck it up, buttercup? Some of us are still working on answering those questions in middle age, so it should not surprise me when 22-year-olds get it wrong. And yet-- color me surprised.

Today I have been thinking a lot about a series of irritating interactions with a particular young adult, and I have been reflecting on my difficulties in letting those memories go. Some degree of recall is important for evaluating our future interactions, but the residual indignation probably does not serve me well. When my inner monologue is a loop of "Can you believe it?" and "Why would someone think that?" -- it's time for a new script.

Any words of wisdom for me? How do you pull the brakes on a particularly exasperating train of thought?