One of my first clients as a student social worker was an old man.

He was seriously grumpy

We would joke about where grumpiness came from.

Was it inherent in the person? Was it learned through experience? Did it arrive with old age?

I now know the answer.

It’s all three

The key factor though is we can choose to be grumpy or not.

I was more grumpy, especially over the past few years, now I’m a bit less.

and I’ve not got the T shirt.

Footnote

As I can’t stop talking, writing, wording….

One flavour of grumpy is anger and I realise it’s derived from being sad. Another is post trauma and the impact it has.

Visit Manjula’s library there’s lots to discover that might help.

Me, I’m still working on it.