End your frustration.

The second week of October marks National Pet Peeve Week, and it’s time to get rid of them so you can take back your sanity.

A pet peeve can range anywhere from an annoying tapping noise to dirty dishes in the sink. The problem with pet peeves is that they never seem to go away.

“Pet peeves, or annoyances, might get stuck in the brain because they are linked with an emotional and generally negative experience or memory,” says Jessica Herrmann, psychology teacher. “When someone initially perceives a situation as annoying, their interpretation of that situation gets linked with the parts of the brain that generates emotional responses. Then, each time the person encounters that situation, the brain responds emotionally.”

According to Joe Palca and Florence Lichtman, there are three U’s that make things annoying: unpleasant, unpredictable, and uncertain duration.

“My biggest pet peeve would have to be slow drivers,” says Morgan Maslauski, junior. “I typically deal with it by either changing lanes, turning onto another street, or turning up the music in the car to get my mind off of it.”

You’re probably thinking, “Why celebrate the things that make us angry, frustrated, and annoyed?” Well, National Pet Peeve Week is supposed to be a reflective time. Thinking about why something is so annoying can actually be beneficial towards learning to cope with that pet peeve. However, pet peeves can sometimes be personal and serious issues.

“One of my biggest pet peeves would be kids who have no respect for adults.” says Chris Rohner, sophomore. “They act like they don’t care about them.”

The real challenge is learning how to deal with your pet peeves.

“There are basically two options: let you pet peeves control you, or decide to control them! If you decide to control your responses to pet peeves, you will feel more empowered and less annoyed over time.” says Herrmann.

Pet Peeve Week is the perfect time to learn how to cope with those annoyances. So the next time you get behind that slow driver, try to ignore it. You’ll see that simply ignoring a silly pet peeve can make it go away in an instant.