In light of Thanksgiving, I thought it only appropriate to share my most recent experience with eating a large helping of Humble Pie. As a side note, the expression actually used to be "Umble Pie" and had nothing to do with humility. But enough from the English major. Back to the introvert-attempting-to-turn-extrovert.
So recently I've been dealing with a very frustrating co-worker at my job. This person basically smokes and talks her way through her shifts and makes everyone else on shift work that much harder to pick up the slack. And with the holiday traffic, it's made things quite exhausting for myself. In addition, I've just been dealing with my usual cold-weather-is-striking-depression/grumpiness. So I've pretty much been an Eeyore meets Oscar the Grouch at work the last little while, especially towards this particular co-worker.
Well this week I came to the stark realization of what a jerk I've been being to everyone around me, especially the people I see most often--my family and my co-workers--and decided it was time to make amends and turn a new, happier leaf. This meant, at least in my eyes, that I needed to approach said co-worker and personally apologize for my recent grumpiness. Which I did. It was a scary thing but I simply took a deep breath, pulled her aside and said, "I'm really sorry for how grouchy I've been. It hasn't been right of me to take it out on you." And as I said the words, an amazing thing happened. I began to tear up and feel really good inside. I can only describe that experience as humbling and perhaps a little humiliating, but well worth it. In short, in biting off a piece of Humble Pie I became fed with compassion for others around me and yes, I guess you could say my heart grew two sizes too.
