Yesterday evening, I drove to Memphis after work for an appointment. I left around 3:30 pm which placed me in Memphis around rush hour. With all the construction on the interstate, that made rush hour even worse. To add, I had an appointment at 5:45 pm that I HAD to make. If I was a minute late, it would’ve canceled. That was explained to me before I accepted it.
Anyway...here I was at 5:20 pm, still 30-35 minutes away from my destination according to my GPS, still stuck in rush hour traffic. I was frustrated, antsy, and angry that it was a possibility that I had driven two plus hours... for nothing.
“Ugh”, I thought. “I hate Memphis’ traffic”, I blurted out.
But it wasn’t the traffic that was bothering me. It was the fact that I would be late for my appointment and miss it...and I had no control over it.
At about 5:30 pm, I guess, one of my favorite songs played on the radio which sent me into a full dance routine. I mean I was getting it.
Obviously, that took my focus off of the bumper to bumper traffic. Shortly after the song went off and I caught my breath from dancing, I noticed traffic was flowing.
Hmmm....
Stay with me. I’m going somewhere...
It was in that moment that I heard-
Difficult times become even more difficult when we are focused on them. It isn’t so much about what is happening to us that gets us; is the extreme focus that we give those times that makes us angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, feel powerless, and forces us to want to throw in the towel.
When that song played, I completely forgot I was in traffic that was barely moving. As a result, I unconsciously calmed down, drove, trusted the process...(catch this), and things flowed and worked out exactly how they were supposed to- I made my appointment at 5:43 pm.
Let me encourage you...
I do not know what’s before you- it could be financial problems, it could be trouble on your job, it could be your children who are going down the wrong path, it could be problems in your marriage, it could be problems with school...
Whatever it is, I dare you to take your focus off of it. Instead of worrying and stressing which are unhealthy, consume your time with other healthy things...and before you know it, things will start flowing and work out exactly how they are supposed to....
God bless you! ❤️