Yesterday, I talked to three different friends who were absolutely losing it with people in their lives. I reflected that December is getting off to a proper start, as usual. When the days get dark and the holidays approach, some people become terribly lonely, while others get dreadfully annoyed with family, friends, and acquaintances. Many of us get lonely and annoyed, all at the same time. We get annoyed with complete strangers, too.

Yesterday I was on a crowded bus where, as is normal, people getting on thronged in the entry area and wouldn’t let other passengers get in or out, even though there were seats and there was space further back.

Normally, people just sulk about that. Yesterday, they spoke up, because it was that kind of day. Some said things under their breath. I was in the front but I was okay, because I was sitting down, but people kept banging their shopping bags, their children, and their whole bodies against my knees as they pushed past, and there were many exasperated sighs and glares.

A young man with earbuds in was among those clinging in the front. He was large, and it was hard to get past him. He was also talking to himself in a steady and incomprehensible stream of monotone gibberish, as people do.

One woman asked the bus driver if he would open the back door, and she bustled off, got back on in the back, and took one of the many open seats.

And then another woman shoved past the young man speaking in gibberish, and as she did, she said clearly, “There’s room in the back.”

“There’s room in the back,” he said in the same monotone, and moved. It was a miracle. He was annoying and weird, yet nevertheless, he moved.

Yes, there’s room in the back. I may adopt that as my motto.

I have already taken steps to reduce my annoyance with humanity. Yesterday, I went to a movie by myself, and turned my phone off. Today, I have avoided scheduling my regular Tuesday stint in the elementary school library. It is not necessary to force myself into proximity with people who drive me mad. Not today. There’s plenty of room in the back, and if I find myself getting exasperated, I will move to the back. Or hell, I will get off and walk. It’s cold out there, but there is a lot more open space than you’d think in the world.