Why Are We…..?

Why is it that we, as human beings can be so nice to one another in certain settings, yet so nasty in another? For example, you’re in the grocery store and pushing your cart down a narrow aisle, and someone else is coming the other way. What do we do? we kindly allow them to pass while politely, and oftentimes very humbly say “sorry” with a smile and go on our way.

Or you’re at work and trying to prepare for a presentation when all of the sudden your colleague walks in with a few of their clients. What do you do? You welcome them with an appropriate greeting and wish them along well with a smile. Or say, you’re taking a walk along a popular trail or walkway and it begins to get crowded and are forced to interact with a complete stranger. What do we do? We smile as we walk by, maybe even comment on how nice the weather is.

So why is it that as soon as we get into our vehicles and pull into traffic that everyone is the enemy? Someone cuts us off and we immediately curse them as we clobber the horn with our clenched fist. Or maybe we are in a bit of a hurry and someone pulls out in front of us and they are automatically crowned the biggest moron in the world who, by the way, has no clue how to drive. Oh, we all know it can get much much worse than that. I mean I’m here to admit that I am definitely capable of falling into a very poor mindset when I’m behind the wheel.

But just think about how much more stressful it is today to drive even compared to say 20 years ago. The world’s population continues to grow, in fact, the population of the city I live in has more than doubled since I was in high school. This means more drivers and heavier traffic. Add to that the increased stresses we all have today like inflation, divisiveness, increased violence and media sensationalism just to name a few. Then there is the big issue we all can relate to which, has statistically shown to aggravate aggressive driving and road rage. That is driving rushed aka running late.

I can recall many years ago when I worked in a very high stress job that required a substantial level of performance in order to make the money we wanted, and I was in my car 25-30 minutes each way (which isn’t anywhere near as bad as many others, I know). There was a time when I was averaging almost one road rage incident a day and it was always after work. In fact, there was a study conducted showing that in 2023 92% of people have witnessed an act of road rage in that past year. Today I still get somewhat impatient especially if I am in a hurry. The key here is in a hurry, and that is the problem. I am an aggressive driver anyway, so it is crucial that I do not put myself in a position where I am in a hurry. If I can take my time I can tolerate most anything on the road. But the fact remains that at times, managing myself on the road is something that I still struggle with.

So what can we do? For starters, if you haven’t done so already, activities such as meditation, practicing yoga, adopting a fitness routine, can all greatly improve our overall health and well being which, can really help us to better deal with stress and some of the other challenges discussed here. What I also try to do is; 1) better manage my time so I am not putting myself in a situation where I am in a hurry, 2) accept the fact that if I am running late I must own this and not let it affect my driving, my attitude, or more importantly someone else on the road, and 3) Utilize breathing techniques (that I learned from my friend, Sara!)

It still absolutely confounds me how we can be so welcoming and polite to a complete stranger in person to person interaction, yet so unpleasant and vicious when we’re on the roadways. Hmm, maybe that has something to do with it. Perhaps the protection and mobility is what induces the uninhibited behavior? Hmm..maybe. But my goodness we are a strange species. Lol.

I wish you all good health, safety, & happiness

Love,

Cody

 

 

Images courtesy:

🌸♡💙♡🌸 Julita 🌸♡💙♡🌸 from Pixabay

Hans from Pixabay

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Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash