Maybe It's About The Poop

Have you ever been driving down the highway, minding your own business, when you look up and see that car coming up way too fast in your rearview mirror?  He quickly shoots to the right, goes around you, and then abruptly cuts you off.  Getting a little fired up as I write this?  It happens to us all.

I heard a long time ago that people do things for their reasons.  And yet, we sometimes find ourselves caught in their crossfire.  Meaning…when they cut you off, it wasn’t that they did it to you; it was that they did it for themselves.

Heck, they don’t even know who you are; they weren’t paying any attention to you.  And sometimes it’s not the guy speeding up and around you that is the culprit.  Sometimes it’s just someone beside you not looking in their blind spot. 

It’s not about you; it’s about them.

But we make it personal.  We make it about them doing this to us.  And it frustrates, irritates and really can fire us up.  One thing you never want to do when this happens is to look at the other driver.  Big mistake.  At that point it becomes personal.  And personal can get messy. Avoid that.

But there’s a new idea I just heard from a friend that is the best yet on how to deal with the impatience and ignorance of these drivers.   He said every time one of them crosses his path, he says out loud to his wife or to nobody in particular, “That guy probably has to poop.”

Doesn’t that just change everything?  Hard to be angry then.  Kind of feel bad for the guy, maybe even hope others get out of his way. 

Next time you’re up against one of these drivers, or perhaps any level of impatience exhibited by your fellow human being, just recode the impatience you see as “That guy probably has to poop.”

Now it’s just funny.