Slippery Slope

I see this too often. I have even done it myself. I am talking about becoming so focused on the negative that you wind up crippling yourself. This is especially dangerous in the workplace. We all know them... you get fed up with existing injustices (e.g., He isn't working as hard as I am, yet he gets paid twice as much). The toxicity of the situation gets to you. Then you become the problem. You start slacking off or complaining so much that the change in behavior is what is noticed. The simple fact of the matter is that life is not fair. Get over it. No work or life situation is perfect. Sure it ticks me off that there are people cashing in a bigger paycheck than I am who should in fact be fired for gross stupidity. But if getting rid of them were an easy fix - they would be gone. There is always something else going on. So my advice to you is to be a good team player even when you are teamed with retards (no offense to the mentally retarded who may very well be good team players and smarter than the co-workers alluded to). You cannot control other people and the situations in which you find yourself. You can only control you. So stop letting the toxicity of "them" or the "situation" get to you. Never let them see you sweat translates to never let them see you acting out. You can only hurt yourself. People notice changes in behavior and want to put a stop to them immediately so as not to have a situation later on that cannot be expeditiously addressed. People can ignore what they have had to ignore for years.