Face Value

               I'm not sure when I realized it.

      It might've been a cold day in January as I gazed out the window across the snow covered field, sipping a cup of hot coffee and thankful to be inside where it was warm. It could've been on a sultry day in July while I mowed grass, sweat trickling down the middle of my back as Breaking Benjamin crooned 'Dear Agony' through my earphones.
      I can't be certain when the realization hit me, or why it did at whatever moment it decided to.
      It was the sudden rush of awareness that life is much easier and less complicated when you give up on trying to understand people, change people, or make other people's problems your own. I will never understand what goes on in someone's mind, or why they do the things they do, and truthfully, I'm thankful for the revelation.
      I once spent quite a bit of time delving into the intriguing dark places in others, trying to figure out what made someone tick and what might be done to 'fix' them. But all along, I could never 'fix' any of them. I discovered it wasn't my place, and I found people don't want to be fixed.
      Who am I to decide who needs fixed anyway?
      Maybe it's me who needs 'fixing'.
      I discovered a huge weight lifted when I decided I would no longer question or ponder the actions of others unless their activities directly affected me in some way.
      I would also be willing to bet money that many people often wonder what kind of craziness goes on in my head as well, but no one seems to be asking.
      Scared of what they might find, I'm guessing.
      I found I expected way too much without stopping to realize not everyone is the same as me. Someone else may take an entirely different route than what I could imagine taking in the same situation.
      People are only people...no more, no less. Don't expect too much.
      And just the same as me, you'll find by letting everyone else's issues go, you'll have less complications in your life, and a sense of relief - as well as peace.
      Learn to take people at face value; sometimes it's the only value they're supposed to have in your life.