I wrote a post recently about impatience and how that feeling seemed to be coming up a lot in my life. Well, when you start to notice things in one area of your life they really do seem to show up everywhere. I’m also beginning to believe that if I don’t listen, and act accordingly, then the Universe conspires to help me learn the lesson. Case in point…
A friend invited me to lunch a few weeks ago. The lunch date was off base (I live on a military base at the moment) and just to get to town is about a forty-minute drive. I was asked to the meet the ladies at noon but I had some obligations that morning that would not be complete until about noon. Happily the lunch was changed to 12:30 knowing that I would be a few minutes late.
Everything was going fine and I finished all that had to be done at 11:40 am. Perfect! I would not be late after all – I hate being late. As I got in the car my friend called and I told her I was now leaving the base so I’d be on time. I got about one minute out and realized that I had made a mistake in some of the paperwork and if I didn’t go back to fix it then it would be another week to get it completed. Ack! I turned around, got it done and then headed to the gate feeling impatient. It was noon.
At the gate all the barriers were closed. What! I have no idea what the issue was but all the traffic was backed up. There was nothing to do except sit and wait. That took about ten minutes though in my anxiousness it felt like forever. I’ll admit that I did speed a bit, just a little, on the way into town to try to make up some of the time. No, no…that was not meant to be. About halfway to the restaurant I was stopped again as a train was crossing the road. Hmmph! Another however many minutes wait.
My friend sent a text to find out where I was because I was now late and the GPS said that I would arrive at 12:54pm. Almost at the restaurant and a road accident brings traffic to a halt again. Sigh. It was just one of those days. It kinda reminded me about the movie Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey when Jim’s character Bruce is driving in the wrong direction and God is putting all sorts of stop signs in his way but he ignores them and ends up crashing. That scene is quite funny and it got me smiling in the car thinking about it. That helped to release the impatience and frustration I was feeling. Sharing the story at lunch gave everyone a chuckle.
There are some days that don’t go the way you expect, that’s life. Adding to the misadventures with impatience doesn’t help. I bet you know that though! The big question is do you practice it?