The Nervous Nellies of the world.

I tend to be relaxed. Yes, calm, cool and collected. Wasn't always that way. I was capable of losing my cool. But that seldom happens anymore. Because I have more or less learned to accept what I can't change. To take life as it comes. And to deal with it. Effectively. To my satisfaction. Used to be I allowed nervous people to rankle me. I absorbed their bad and unsettling vibes. But I don't do that any more. I let them be nervous. And if anything, I rankle them. By giving them advice. To cool it. Anyway, I like my new relaxed approach. I go about living with a thick skin. I can even take abuse. Insults. Recriminations. I'm capable of returning an insult with an even deeper insult. Usually in a sarcastic manner. But I do that less and less. More for fun than meanness. For the humor. There's something really funny about insult humor. Like the schtick of comedian Don Rickles. I call nervous people Nervous Nellies. My mother was that kind. Maybe that's what made me nervous in my younger days. My mother taught it to me. But I wised up. I separated my mother's good traits from the bad ones. Same goes for my father. Or for most anyone I know. I separate the good from the bad, and focus primarily on the good. That's reason for me to like most people. One thing is for sure. I can find something interesting about everyone. No exceptions. That includes the Nervous Nellies of the world. They're a strange lot. --Jim Broede