It's Hard To Know

Story time! This happened last week, and it’s something I know all of you can relate to. I was running an errand for my partner, driving on the road and I needed to switch lanes. I put on my blinker, looked over, saw there was enough room for me to move into but not a ton of a room. Double-checked my mirror and saw that the car sped up to prevent me from switching lanes. I let them pass then switched lanes, no harm, but it agitated me. Whey wouldn’t they just let me over? It seemed selfish to me.

5 minutes later in the drive, on a different road and focused on navigating to the right place, I drove past a car slowing down in the lane next to me. After I got past them I realized that they were trying to get into my lane, and unknowingly I sped right past them and didn’t let them in. They then turned in right behind me, no harm done, but it gave me perspective to what happened earlier.

I was way too quick to draw conclusions. I assumed someone else’s ill-intentions without having the first idea about what was going through their head, and I wasn’t proud of it because I was guilty of doing the exact same thing. That’s why, before judging someone else’s choices or decisions, try and have more perspective. It’s hard to know what their reasons are for doing something. It’s hard to know what’s influencing the situation to be a certain way. It’s hard to know if something is right and wrong because there is way more to it than meets the eye. And if we, myself very much included, took the time to think about where people might be coming from before emotionally reacting about things, we would live in a more empathetic, compassionate, and understanding world.

When it comes to creating that change it needs to start with each of us as individuals, so let me ask you this reflective question - Do you think you judge people and situations too quickly?

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

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