Does Anyone Else Feel Guilty Enough to Shovel Their Maine Neighbor’s Snow, Too?

Welcome to a little phrase my friends and I call "shovel panic."

This is where you're minding your own business, shoveling off the stairs to your apartment and maybe even your parking spot as well, but you make the crippling mistake of looking around you.

When you look around you to admire your shovel job, you catch a glimpse of your neighbor's staircase or car still glistening in a perfect blanket of white. And then it hits you.

The panic sets in, and you can't help yourself. You get that feeling of "Am I a bad person if I don't shovel off their spot, too, since I'm outside first?"

The answer is no, but I'm gonna do it anyway out of panic.

Suddenly you're shoveling their entire car out and you might even get so carried away that you're now onto your neighbor's stairs.

Shovel panic.

I'd rather shovel off their stairs as well than hyper-focus on the idea that I didn't help them out when I was awake earlier than them and doing it anyway.

Can you relate?  Do I start a shovel panic business? Having crippling anxiety is your only pre-requisite to work here.

And the thing is, it’s not like anyone asked me to do it. My neighbor isn’t standing at their window, pointing furiously at their car like, “Hey, you missed a spot.”

It's just shovel panic.

The moment I see that untouched snow, my brain decides I’ve been hired as the unofficial Snow Removal Department for the block. Now I’m out here, shoveling like I’m being graded on it, fully aware that I’ll be sore tomorrow and no one will even notice. Classic.

But hey, at least their stairs look nice, and I’ve earned a whole new level of neighborly guilt for next time.

Shovel panic strikes again.

Do you ever get this?