Slightly Everything

Annoyed:  Slightly angry; irritated.

Irritated:  Showing or feeling slight anger; annoyed.

So what happens if I'm extremely annoyed and/or irritated?  It would seem to screw up the definition.  It would be like being extremely unique.  You are unique or you are not.  You can't be very unique because something unique is unlike anything else.  Think about it!

This from Wikipedia . . . 

Annoyance is an unpleasant mental state that is characterized by irritation and distraction from one's conscious thinking.  It can lead to emotions such as frustration and anger.

 Many stimuli that one is at first neutral to, or even finds pleasant, can turn into annoyances from repeated continued exposure.

A study published in the International Journal of Conflict Management found that one's response to an annoyance, at least when the perceived cause is another person, escalate to more extreme levels as they go unresolved.  It also found that one was more likely to blame the party who was causing the annoyance in the study, rather than one's self, for the annoyance as it escalated.

See?  There it is again.  A reminder that I need to look at myself and not you.  Every time I delve into character defects - whether in The Program or in any other mental health forum I find that there is this reminder that it's always about me and not about you.  Even when I run into people who really are irritating the solution is within myself.

I repeat this anecdote about a man who was always bitching to his sponsor about other people.  He called him on the phone one day and the dude picked up, said: "It's not them - it's you" and hung up.  He swears this is not anecdotal, that it really happened.  Brevity is underrated as a motivating tool.  There was zero nuance in that exchange which is why it was so effective.

Sometimes I'm just irritable.  It's OK.  It happens to most of us except for those incredibly irritating people who seem to be happy and content most of the time.  This isolation stuff is wearing on everyone.  I find myself rushing outside when a neighbor walks by.  I stand on the patio and shout at them as they move down the road.  I'm going out to engage people I can's stand, for chrissake.

Kenner:  "This, too, shall pass."