Latest / Forged In The Dark / Stuck in Traffic
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: couple months back I found myself in Austin traffic in the morning in between rush hour and lunch in between lunch rush hour and evening rush hour and evening rush hour traffic and it wasn't just the way that I navigated this day it was the realization I had ⁓ on the final commute that really solidified the question that I'm going to ask you today. So go ahead and settle in. It is story time. Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I'm your host, Jamie. Let's dig in. Now, I don't always find myself in rush hour traffic. I have a tendency to schedule my life in ways that that I avoid most of that. But this particular day was so interesting for so many different reasons. So on the way, none of my electronics were working in the car. None of the talk to text features were working on my phone or or on the car. I I couldn't make a phone call. I I couldn't send a text message. I I finally resigned to the radio. I I turned on the radio on a really low volume and just watched the cars around me. And and and it was fascinating because in that moment I was just choosing to not be frustrated. I was really excited about my destination. I couldn't wait to get there, but I put my patients' pants on and settled in for the kind of commute that I'm not used to, especially with no electronics. So I arrived at my destination. Everything went better than I could have expected. I expected it to be good, but it was even better. I I loved the people there. It was a Positive experience. Everything went down easy, and I was on my way back home. And I noticed on the on the drive back home how easy everything was. I wasn't stuck in traffic. There was no traffic. All of the electronics in the car were working, and the phone call that I had so desperately been trying to make in the morning happened. Okay, so fast forward a couple more hours, and I get a phone call that my order was ready. Everything was done, not hours before expected, days before expected. So once again, I find myself on that commute and it was smooth sailing. Everything happening better than expected. Same thing when I got to my destination. But then by the time I turned around to leave, I was smack dab in the middle of rush hour traffic at a full stop just barely south of downtown. Now, I I need you to hear me when I say that this protec p this particular day was amazing. It was one of those days where you're constantly just throwing your hands up at the sky saying, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the flow, thank you for the ease, thank you for everything turning out way better than I could have could have expected. So as I sat there, it was a beautiful day. I had my windows cracked and my moonroof open. I had coffee, I had water. I turned the music off in the car and intentionally watched the cars around me. And what I saw was pretty much every range of emotion that that I could think of with I mean within the cars around me. There was there was anger. ⁓ my gosh, this one guy. He was yelling at someone. Whether there was someone in the car with him that was really good in the business, or someone on the phone, or if he was really yelling at a person that was just in his head, I don't know, but he was angry. There were people that looked bored. There were people that looked frustrated. There was one person that was visibly crying, another smiling, another laughing. And and and then I saw this one woman. And her stare forward was just blank. She was the only face that I observed that was void of any and all emotion. And I couldn't help but sit there and think, I wonder what she's experiencing right now. Is she dreading going home? Is she exhausted from her day? Is this poor woman not just stuck in traffic, but stuck in her life? And then I wondered, holy smokes, how many of these other people in these cars all around me are not just stuck in traffic, but they are stuck in their life? And this is the thing about getting stuck. Most of the time it happens so slowly over time that you don't even know you're there until well, until you do, until something tragic or big shakes you, like wakes you up. And even with that, if if you're lucky enough to get that kind of a wake-up call, and I say lucky enough because tragedy sometimes strikes and you don't see the blessing. You don't know the blessing. You You you you can only see the storm. Let's just say it like that. You can only see the storm. When you're in the storm, you can only see the storm. But how we get stuck happens so slowly over time that we don't even know how stuck we are until we're not stuck anymore. And and this is not judgment. I I I'm not judging you for where you are. I I used to be you. The the daily grind, the the the waking up an hour before everybody in the house to have some peace and to wake up before the house to do everything that I needed to do. Then it's get the kids up, breakfast, lunches, school, home, this, that, the next thing. I don't know if I've mentioned it on this podcast, but I was a stay-at-home mom for 17 years. The daily grind, the homework, the soccer practice, the dentist appointments, like everything became so ritual and so routine that I slowly lost parts of myself every single day by showing up for others and never showing up for myself. And you might not resonate with me, but you have a story here. You have your daily routine. And this is the craziest thing. We need the routine, we need the structure, we need the repetition to create habits that stick. But what happens when the habits that stick aren't habits you intentionally chose? Or even if it's something like, I've got to go to work, and this is where my job is, and this is my commute. You you make your peace with it. And you sit in that traffic every morning and every evening and every morning and every evening. But what you're missing is the compounded effects that it has on you. And and it's probably something like you're so busy being busy, you take care of everybody else, and then you go to work and you do your job, and then you come home and take care of everybody else. Is this life that you're living? Is this life that has become a habit? Is this sucking your soul right out of you? Is it draining you? Or are you making enough conscious choices in your life to be present in your life and and and to enjoy your life? Because on this particular day, even with all of the electronics going wrong in the car, even with being stuck in traffic, this was a better than average day. I I was totally present. I was totally happy. I I I couldn't have been happier, exclaiming to God, Universe Source the Divine, how grateful I was for the day. And and and looking at all of these people in traffic. I I I guess this is where this is where you get to examine your life. You get to examine the things you do every day and ask yourself the hard questions like why am I doing? What joy am I getting from this? What am I doing for myself? How is my life mine, not just everybody else's? Because I mean, I can still see that poor woman's face. And I have no idea what burdens she was carrying. I have no idea what caused her to slip into this lifeless void. But It it it really does bring up the question: what areas of your life are you not just stuck in traffic? What areas of your life are you stuck? And I promise you, you have your own answers. So I please, I almost beg of you today, like carve some time out now while this concept is fresh, while this idea is fresh, and examine your life. What what are the areas of your life that are literally stuck in your soul? What what are the areas of your life where you're overgiving? Where are the areas in of your life that you could add more you back to your life? Because getting stuck doesn't happen overnight. It happens slowly over time. The same way we create habits we want, we create habits we don't want. Okay. Now that I feel the passion all bubbling up, that that's where I leave it today. But spend some time with this because you deserve to be in the leading role in your life. And and if you are stuck, especially in any of the big areas, even if you're not totally stuck, even if it's just a sticky point, I mean, I promise you. You're going to be if you actually take the time and sit down and examine every area of your life with the intention to find the areas that aren't working, highlight the areas that are working, identify the areas that aren't working, you are going to find your answers. Okay. I am sending you so much love. I I I really hope you're not stuck in life, but ⁓ But yeah, take some time and find the areas and honestly just choose to do something different. Okay. until next time. Bye.