Most people have heard of the expression “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” signalling that it’s not your problem, you don’t have to fix it. It’s great and really useful for setting appropriate boundaries and not taking too much ownership of situations you didn’t cause and can’t control.
Sometimes though it’s really hard to detach from chaos. People won’t lock up their monkeys properly, and they’ll go and mate with other monkeys, and there will be little baby orphan monkeys running around, and those are the moments that really test your commitment to the boundaries you’ve set.
Some people will even do the old con artist trick: They’ll throw a baby monkey into your arms and use the distraction as a chance to steal your purse.
I’m telling you, friends — Don’t you dare catch those baby orphan monkeys!!