My frustration with this issue started my freshman year. Imagine being late and your class is all the way on the other side of campus. You look at the time and it says you have 4 minutes to get to class. Determined to get there on time, you begin walking at a pretty steady pace. Your backpack bounces a little harder against your back as you look down at your phone and notice that you now only have 3 minutes left. Picking up the pace, you notice your breath shortening and your shins beginning to hurt from trying to walk as fast as you can without going into a full sprint. Despite the redness in your face and a minor sweat, you’re excited to see that you’re almost there, and that’s when it happens: someone steps in front of you.

I’m an overall pretty happy person and it typically takes a lot for me to get irritated, but if I had to name one thing that grinds my gears, it would have to be being stuck behind slow walkers. I’m not talking about just any slow walkers, but the ones who end up unintentionally blocking your every move when you try and get around them. It’s as though they have eyes in the back of their head and they can tell when you are trying to get past them; I move left, they move left, I walk right and they walk right. It’s just impossible. These walkers love to take their sweet time getting to their destination, especially when you’re in a panic to reach yours. It seems that there’s no way around them, at least while you’re still in college. There is no doubt about it, at least once in your college career, you will run into the dreaded “slow walker.”

For those who will someday endure this incident, here are a couple tips to help you keep your calm:

1. Take a deep breath. If you’re like me, slow walkers are frustrating, but just take a couple deep, slow breaths and slow down your pace. You will get there eventually.
2. Leave early. Leaving early can be very helpful when trying to find a way to handle slow walkers. Leaving a few minutes earlier than you normally would helps create a little slack for those times when you are stuck behind slow walkers. No more rushing.
3. If you see a gap, take it. This means that if you are walking and you notice a slight gap open up where you might have a chance to get around the slow walkers, take it. Otherwise you will be stuck behind them for who knows how long.
4. Avoid busy areas. This is self-explanatory, but try and avoid walking in crowded walkways. This helps lessen your chance of running into slow walkers.

As you continue your college career, I wish you luck on your journey to classes, and beware of the “slow walkers.”