“Woosah” was made popular by the movie Bad Boys II. It’s a verb that means to calm down, take a breather, or chill out. Woosah can also be a savior of sorts. How so? Why, I’m so glad you asked.

Woosah can save some people from a good a** whoopin. It saves others from being cussed out and sometimes it saves people like me from actin’ a damn fool. Let me explain.

I’m sitting in a restaurant having a date with Miss Terri (that’s me) enjoying my own company, adding tasks to my mental to-do list while waiting for my food (me so hungry). I see the waitress in my peripheral, tray in hand, and that’s when I (discreetly of course) start my happy dance, but to my dismay she was delivering a meal to the man behind me. Now let the story begin!

So I’m sitting here in “me time” heaven, not a worry in the world, when all of the sudden I hear a loud CRUNCH! Now I’m thinking “Oh hell naw, this man behind me is not about to do this.” Well guess what? Oh yes he was.

To make a short story shorter, from the time this mystery man who sat in the booth behind me got his food to the time I left, he smacked, crunched, slurped, and obnoxiously made every noise you can possibly make while eating, as he consumed his meal. And to top it off, he even sucked his fingers after ruthlessly devouring his meal.

I was so irritated. Smacking, chewing with an open mouth, and anything involving sloppy dining etiquette, are my biggest pet peeves!

So, I did what I do best. I got all riled up, pulled out my iphone with a pissy attitude and proceeded to put this stranger on blast on Facebook AND Twitter. But then the proverbial “light” came on. DING!

I guess you can call it a moment of self-reflection coupled with a little self-chastisement.  First of all, it would have been immature of me to say all the things I wanted to say about this man on the web. My diary would be a more suitable outlet.

Meanwhile, I envisioned a group of people rushing over to my table chewing with their mouths open and doing every possible thing to irk my nerves and that’s when I realized how much power I allow my environment to have over my mood!

In other words, I had been choosing to be “reactive” which means that I let events (or in this case the annoying guy behind me) dictate how I felt, thus my mood was tossed to and fro depending on my environment.

With over 7 billion people in the world, I can assure you that we can (and probably will) be miserable every day of the rest of our lives, if we choose to react to every negative or irritating whim that comes our way. There are more than enough people in the world to assign at least one to piss each of us off each day.

As I sat in the restaurant’s booth thinking about the possibility of being pissed off every day because of my viewpoint and my decision to be reactive to my environment, I recalled a valuable principle that I learned in Stephen Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Habit 1: Be Proactive.

Being proactive simply means pausing to evaluate a situation and exercising the freedom to choose how you’ll respond based on desired results and principles.

After my initial frustration with Mr. Annoying, I looked at the situation for what it was. I came to the conclusion that this guy was going to crunch and smack until the end of the world and it was up to me to choose how I’d respond regardless of what he chose to do.

Of course it’s easier said than done but I now have a new appreciation for “Woosah.”

The next time I walk up to the sales clerk and she’s rude as hell even though I greet her with a friendly smile. Woosah.

The next time I say hello to someone in passing and they give me a blank stare. RUDE. But nevertheless, Woosah!

“One thing you control is how you feel. No one can make you feel anything you do not choose to accept.”

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