One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to get less annoyed by people. I’m of the belief that, in general, the population at large is wildly unwell and only thinks of themselves. And the older I get, the more I find myself getting annoyed at, say, people who stop and have conversations in doorways, people who stop and read text conversations smack in the middle of sidewalks, or people in parking lots who see someone they know, and instead of having a conversation between two cars, have a conversation in the middle of driving lanes. I don’t think any of these quibbles are unreasonable. However, does getting super annoyed over it accomplish anything (I think an argument can be made that annoyance and anger are necessary emotions that spur action and change…but that’s not the argument I chose to go for when crafting this particular New Year’s Resolution)?
Long story short, I don’t know if this New Year’s Resolution is working.
On my very first Black Balsam sunrise hike of this year—which was predictably gorgeous and peaceful and worth the 5:00 AM Saturday wake-up time the hike requires—I found myself getting unnecessarily annoyed with a man who had the audacity to simply…be hiking in front of me.
Now, this annoyance was unreasonable on my part. Full stop. This gentleman, who was about a quarter mile in front of me, just happened to always stop himself whenever I attempted to take a photo and ruin the perception that I was alone in the wilderness that I wanted my photos and subsequent social media postings to convey. That’s all he did. He was hiking. He was also stopping to take photos. He was out enjoying his morning. I knew all this, yet…couldn’t stop getting insanely annoyed by his presence.
When I reached the top of Tennent Mountain, I had the peak to myself. Not to be super cheesy, but I do find these jaunts into nature necessary for me to do some deep thinking, unplug from the onslaught of headlines and hot takes that come along with being a very online person, and sort of, I hate to say it, center myself. Here, I was able to calm myself down. I was able to remind myself not to let people annoy me so much, especially people who aren’t doing anything wrong.
And yet…AND YET…I think my deep disdain for this fellow hiker may have been warranted. I finally lapped him with only about a half mile left of the hike. He was wearing a MAGA hat and a “Trump 2024: Fuck Your Feelings” tee-shirt.
AshevilleExplorer 