To Infinity and Beyond

I realized this morning while driving my kids to school that this blog could go on forever. The purpose of it was to use writing to reflect on finding more peace, joy, and gratitude in my life. The problem with this notion is that the thing that most frustrates and annoys me is people. Yes. People. And, as you know, people are everywhere. Well, maybe it’s not all people, but it certainly is the ones who are stupid, self-serving, or inconsiderate, and especially those who are all three of those things combined.

Every day I drive. I drive quite a bit. On a rare, low-travel day, I spend maybe just an hour in my car. On a busy day, I might spend as many as 4 hours in my car. Do you know what? People drive, or at least they try to, and I am out there on the road with them. Despite my best efforts, I cannot find a way to get over the little annoyances in traffic and get to my happy place. This is how I know that zen is still a long way off for me.

I admit it. I do get thoroughly exasperated when the woman across from me at a two-way stop crossing a busy street expects me to read her mind and go first when traffic abates (even though she was at the intersection first and therefore I am yielding my right-of-way to her). I get even more frustrated when she starts waving her arms at me as if to say, “Go already, you idiot.” Oh…I’m sorry lady. I’m a little rusty with my psychic skills. I didn’t realize you wanted me to go first because you didn’t let me know that with a polite hand gesture before you started cursing me out. My bad. The correct response in this situation would be to take a deep breath, smile politely, wave to thank her, and then let that moment and that cranky woman fall from my mind. Instead, I’m sitting here writing about it. Totally not zen.

I could go to infinity and beyond listing the ways that people annoy me, but that would only prove that I need therapy and probably anger management classes too. Yesterday I wrote about how the universe is continually giving me lessons about getting out of my head and living in the moment. Perhaps the people annoying me are part of the long-term lesson plan the universe has in mind for me? If that’s the case, it seems to be working overtime because I sure do encounter a copious amount of aggressive, distracted, and otherwise traffic-law-impaired drivers. (You know I’m talking about the people who don’t understand there is a distinct and legitimate difference between the meanings of the words “yield” and “merge.”)

I promise, Universe, I will try to release my frustrations with people. I will. I will take deep breaths and stop mentally yelling at them. Will you please do me one favor, though, and keep that white Ford SUV out of MY regular space at Target?  Twice this week it’s been parked there. It sure would encourage my unquestioning faith in your powers if you could work that out for me.

Yeah. I’m going to be working on this zen thing for a long, long time, I think. 😉