Boulevard of life …

You’ve hit the snooze button twice already, so when the alarm goes off again you know you have to get up.

Your day, like for many others, is full. You know exactly how much time you have before you have to get out of bed, get dressed for the day, get the kids ready for school, and make a quick breakfast for the family before you must be out the door on your way to work or else you’ll be late.

As you’re backing the car out of the driveway, you’re on schedule. It’s another busy morning, but you should be able to arrive at work on time.

But then you hit the first red light on the way to work. It seems like you’re sitting at the light for at least three very long minutes before it changes, and that’s when you feel the first rumblings of anxiety. But it’s okay, time is tight but you’re still on time …

… until you hit the second red light.

Now you’re perturbed. You don’t have the time to sit at another light. Now it will be chancy that you’ll be at work on time. Maybe you can punch in without being late if you get a parking spot near the office entrance … which never happens.

The light turns and you speed down the avenue, checking for police cars in your rear view mirror. As you drive you feel the anxiety really churning now.

That’s when you have to come to a sudden stop at yet another red light … which leads to you arriving late to work … and you start your work day anxious, which gets worse after the boss warns you about being late yet again. Your day only gets worse from there.

All because you thought all the lights should be green for you.

The problem in your day wasn’t red lights slowing you down. The problem was having an attitude that all the lights should be green for you. To become anxious, or have your day thrown off simply because you faced a few red lights, is an empty way to live life. But many, many people start their days this way.

Sometimes we travel along on a string of green lights. How nice that is! It’s so convenient. Most days are a mix … a green light here, slide through a yellow light there, and catch a red light along the way. But most of the time we don’t catch every light when it’s green.

But many people act as though every light should be green for them.

Life is not synchronized for our comfort or our needs because it’s not all about us. With over seven billion people sharing the planet, and several thousand — if not a few million — sharing the immediate area with you, life routinely will require us to navigate circumstances that come our way because of the actions, needs, or wants of others rather than from our own choices. We compound those circumstances when we don’t factor in others in our lives. When we navigate life as though every light really should be green for us, we’ll wind up disappointed, frustrated, in trouble, and failing.

Scotty