500 Words a Week - Why Do We Hate Traffic?
You’re stuck, unable to move. Every lane you change into stops dead. You’re going nowhere. It’s a familiar experience to a lot of us. How come we hate it so much? As with many things, I think it all centres around the amount of control we feel. When stuck in traffic, we can do nothing to change our situation. Further causing feelings of frustration and anger.
What we can control is our outlook, how we view the situation we are in. Sure, we are stuck in traffic, but is there any point in allowing those feelings of frustration to grow?
Other times I feel we forget how much control we do have within our life. One of the most rewarding things I have ever done was leaving a job and moving to a different city. I felt I had control over my life, rather than just accepting the situation I was in. I went about making changes to ultimately make me happier. After this, I think I would recommend everyone to quit a job at least once in their life.
However, there is a balance to this. On one end of the scale, we have patience, on the other we have being risky in our decisions and trying to make things happen. We need a little of both in our lives. We need to be conscious about when the scale leans too far and for too long to one side. I think it’s the combination of being patient yet always observant and open to opportunities that come your way. Then when these opportunities come your way, we must be prepared to put our best foot forward, to fully grasp what’s available to us.
Sometimes we can view this in a negative, intensely waiting and watching for the next opportunity that might come our way. Feeling frustrated and annoyed that nothing has, while we see others excelling. In these times, we need to be conscious that everything we are doing now is better preparing us for when that opportunity does come up. Like the traffic analogy above, we can’t always force things to come our way. This lack of control may lead to frustrations, but we can change how we view what we are doing in this current time.
Life hack: when traveling anywhere via an airport, and fast track through security is around £5, buy it! Going through airport security in less than 5 minutes is a life changing experience.
