- I have several pet peeves but at the top or pretty close to it is the way people have forgotten the contraction of 'have'. Let me state the classic example: I wish I would of done this or that. Yikes! Really? Would of? It's would've - as in I wish I would have (aka would've) done this or that. Let's try harder people. Sometimes it actually matters.
I had always thought these things went together. As we age and apparently get wiser, we tend to mellow and, to paraphrase one of my favorite book titles, not sweat the small stuff.
Years ago the littlest things would set me off like a firecracker. I attribute this to several factors: youth, a hot head parent, being Italian, and a youthful superiority complex. However, being the oldest child I felt like it was always my role to 'make things right'. So I naturally settled into the peace maker role, and to be a really effective peace maker, well you guessed it - I had to mellow out and stop sweating the small stuff.
Don't get me wrong. Oh, I can outshout just about anyone. But why? In the end, does bashing someone over the head help their headache? Of course not. But sometimes it feels good to yell - am I right?
Anyway I took the long path to get here but my point is this- the book is right. Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff.
I'm up for discussion on this or share your own pet peeves. Drop me a comment if you want to chime in.
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