Now, I consider myself to be a very patient person. No matter how many times you may annoy me, I’ll always be easy-going, will look past your misdemeanors, and will be able to move on. Maybe it’s from having dealt with such demanding sisters (Okay, you know I actually love you both!), or just having grown up with somewhat of a tolerance for life’s difficulties, there isn’t much my patience can’t handle.

Nonetheless, there are a few things that do tend to push my buttons, with narrow-minded people definitely taking the lead in my list of pet-peeves. Honestly, nothing will get me angrier than those fools who are so stubborn that they can’t even attempt to open their points of view to realize others are allowed to have opinions as well.

Let me say this once: You aren’t right about everything!

Again, don't adopt a mentality of "It's my way or the highway.” Can we all honestly agree on what a ridiculous saying that is? Really, you’re going to be so stubborn that you won’t even start to acknowledge why someone else could have a different opinion? You can't live life having not experienced what it has to offer, simply because you look down on what other people are doing. Yes, everyone reacts differently to things, but how can you know if you enjoy something or not without having tried it first?

Here, we’ll apply this thinking to something small, like television shows (if I started with politics or religious issues, it would have been too crazy after all.) I, myself, am a HUGE fan of NBC’s show “The Office.” You could ask me nearly any question, as random and obscure as you could think of, about "The Office" and 9.5 times out of 10, I could answer that for you right off the bat. However, I’ve found, through my experiences and of those around me, that if you are a big fan of "The Office," you typically tend not to be such a lover of "Parks and Recreation," and vice versa. This is indefinitely the case with me! I could not bear to watch "Parks and Rec" for the life of me for more than 10 minutes, but will gladly watch any episode of "The Office" at any time, of any day (Not to insult all you "Parks and Rec" fans!)

However, it isn’t like I haven’t watched an episode or two of "Parks and Rec." I am proud to say I’ve given it a chance and watched the show with an open mind. For me, however, after you’ve seen the antics of Dwight, Jim, Andy, and all the rest on "The Office," nothing could ever be as good! Really, I swear to you that although I am a die-hard fan of "The Office," I did try to give "Parks and Rec" a chance to the best of my ability.

On the other hand, by being open-minded, I was able to discover the wonders of tea! That’s right, some old-fashioned tea! A few years ago, I despised tea with a passion. None of the teas my friends would have me try were appealing, English breakfast tea, earl grey, you name it, I hated it. For months, even years, I would try cups of tea time and time again, only to hate whatever was offered to me. Regardless, I remained open-minded in the hopes that I would find the tea I could drink in gallons. And, sure enough, I discovered raspberry flavored tea. And I fell in love, hard! If you’ve been to The Witches Brew on Long Island, you’ll know there are seemingly hundreds of different tea flavors to drink. With the amount of times I’ve been there, it really just feels like I’m going there simply to try a new tea every trip!

All I’m trying to say here is be open-minded! Please don’t limit yourself to just a select taste of what you can experience. Be it a cup of tea, a TV show, or anything else life has to offer, make sure to be ready to try it all. Time is fleeting, and you only have one lifetime’s worth of memories. Make the most of it!