I was driving down the road, merging from one highway to the next. I put my blinker on preparing to pull in front of a semi-truck because the lane I was in was ending. Unlike a good, decent truck driver (I used to be one… so I would know!) he speeds up, and lays on the horn so intensely that I swerved and almost drove off the road!
Jackass!
Normally I would have kept driving, flipped him off, and probably sworn at him through my car windows.
But ohhh, no…not today.
This week everything felt like it was coming at me. People were blaming me for their problems. I was feeling taken advantage of. Even my dogs weren’t listening to me! It felt like I was trying to drive my car from the back seat. What was different about today was that I decided I wasn’t going to be bullied anymore and I was done putting up with other people bullshit! I was tired of other people thinking they can do or say whatever they want with total disregard for how they affect people around them.
So I rattled off the phone number on the side of the truck and had my business partner, who was in the car with me at the time, dial the number of the truck company. I reeled in my emotion, spoke calmly to the manager, and gave them the location and details of the incident. They took the incident seriously, and the woman on the phone even told me that they were having issues with this particular truck driver before and she would report this to the manager. She was very nice and calm which made me feel better about calling in about this incident.
Wow! That was easier than I thought it would be!
And it felt good to stand up for myself and take charge of the situation.
It might not seem like much, but on this day I chose to step forward into my life and do something to change the outcome. And I can tell you that this was one small step that changed the entire rest of my day. It was infectious towards everything from then on. I could feel myself standing taller, speaking with more authority and I finally chose to speak my truth to someone I had been avoiding for a while and I no longer was feeling bullied anymore. Even my dogs were listening to me! Not only did I change the outcome, I also affected others throughout my day in a positive way.
I later found out from the truck company, that they were also grateful for my call and that the driver had some difficult personal things in his life going on and they were able to help him. I’m glad he was able to keep his job. You can never judge someone you first meet because you never really know what’s going on in a person’s life. If I had called when I was emotional, I could have set some really negative things into motion, but I was able to stay positive, and it had a positive outcome for all involved.
When I feel like my life is coming at me, I have to remember that I can’t control other people (as much as I wish that I could sometimes!), but I can control how I react and what my response is to the situation. I have to find a way back into the driver’s seat of my life and the different situations that come up. It’s okay to say “NO!”, set a boundary and refuse to let my day be affected by someone else’s bad day.
You never know what positive things can ripple out from a single event in your day.
Happy driving (in your driver’s seat)!
Soulaire
