Mirror Mirror on the Wall I bet you didn’t like what you saw at all

Well what a very strange month it has been. When I started this experiment I thought I knew who I would have problems with but I was wrong.

The first two weeks were very quiet apart from trouble with neighbour’s visitors. I came very quickly to the opinion that the person I was dealing with was so stupid that he probably had difficulty with an ordinary mirror.

That incident was the tipping point. For the rest of the month I was inundated with complete prats in a variety of flavours.

I am normally reasonably diplomatic so the idea of actually mirroring somebodies behaviour is quite a hard thing to do.  However even I have my limits. So I fought authority with authority and prima donnas with prima donnas. In some ways it was quite refreshing to actually for once give people a taste of their own medicine.

As a society we are taught to be respectful and considerate towards others. However there are occasions when I feel that I am the only person following these cultural parameters

Perhaps I do not hold my ground these days like I used to. Actually reflecting back their attitude to me came as something of a shock. They didn't like what they saw in the Mirror Mirror at all.

Social Experiment Results

Well it has been a whole month since I started my Social Experiment and it has certainly been an eye-opener. I knew it wouldn't be easy but I didn't expect it to be quite as difficult as I found it. I never realised how much responsibility I took on the behalf of people whether asked for or off my own bat.

Indeed I have been doing this for so long it is nigh on impossible to stop. Have you ever been told by a friend that you should just say no or that your overdoing it? I know I have and I admit I mostly say yes I am trying to take it easy. However I never actually took stock of what I was actually doing.

To actually make a conscious effort to restrain myself from what I might normally do has been pretty exhausting. It has been like an itch I cannot scratch. It was not too bad at the beginning of the month but after a week or two I was emotionally see-sawing. One moment when something hadn't been done I would give an amused smile and (yes I know it's not very mature) a look of triumphant superiority of I told you so. Next I would be snappy and want to throttle somebody and scream 'For God's Sake why can't you just get on and do it.

This might sound strange to people but the only thing I can try and equate this with is a form of addiction. If you smoke imagine going cold turkey and not smoking for a month or if your on a diet spending a months work experience in a chocolatiers. The only problem is unlike those two examples there are no patches, gum or low fat options to take the edge off.

So am I saying that I am addicted to helping people? Well I am not sure I would go that far but I certainly take on responsibilities that I perhaps shouldn't. Therefore why do I do so? Am I a natural leader? Have I been trained into this habit over the years? Am I just an interfering although well meaning busybody Or is it that I feel that if I don't do it then it won't get done? Or maybe it is partly all of them?

I have to say that I don't know the answer. Nobody sees themselves as others do. All I know is that the past month was extremely difficult. By the end I had developed a mantra – Just wait till June – Just wait till June. I have to admit that when the clock clicked over on to June 1^st my mind, body and spirit gave a huge sigh of relief.

I no longer feel like a pressure cooker about to burst. However as I look over the past months events I wonder how much I will retain of the lessons I have learnt. After all Birthdays were forgotten, bins not put out and such like not done. Therefore it does reinforce the idea that if I don't do it then it doesn't get done.

How did you get on?