2024 was a year for the record books. On one hand, the market began to rebound from a down year fueled by high interest rates and inflation. On the other hand, thanks to sweeping changes in forms and business practices, the industry seemed to turn on itself. I could go into a whole rant against NAR here, but maybe another time. Or not, because they really aren’t worth the time. That’s not the point of this post.
The point of this post is that everyone is crazy. But it’s their crazy. It doesn’t have to be your crazy. Don’t get me wrong, you are crazy too. But it’s your crazy. It doesn’t have to be anyone else’s crazy.
I remember being a kid and seeing my grandmother rinse off aluminum foil that she had used to cover a dish and then store it to be reused on a different dish at some undetermined point in the future. This was such a foreign concept to me that I couldn’t help but ask her why on Earth she would save a one-cent piece of foil. That’s when she sat me down and explained what it meant to grow up in the Great Depression.
What I thought, based on my upbringing and experience at the ripe old age of ten or so, was that she was losing it. What I realized was that she wasn’t crazy at all. She was acting based on her experience and set of beliefs that had come from that. My experience in the universe makes up such an infinitesimal percentage of what has actually happened in the universe as a whole, but it makes up the significant majority of my beliefs, standards, and thought processes. It shapes how I view the world, how I view other people’s crazy, and how I judge situations and people. The same is true of every single person in the world.
The challenge in not recognizing that my crazy is my crazy and your crazy is your crazy is that it can manifest itself very easily in either fear or uncertainty. The reaction to that fear or uncertainty can be dangerous, hurtful, and, at its worst, violent. Until you have lived through someone’s crazy, you can’t truly understand it, no matter how empathetic you try to be.
To expect someone to act the way you want, based on your crazy, is unrealistic. The opposite is true too. The best thing you can do, I think, is try to not let your crazy define someone else’s crazy. Just accept that you have different crazies and find the middle ground.
I have never been the kind of person who picks a word for the theme of my year, but this year, I am hoping for peace. Last year seemed like a battle. This year, I am going to do my best to manage my crazy, not get upset at your crazy, and just work towards the common goal. If that fails, then I will just work towards my goal and ignore the crazy altogether.
