We always have a choice

2-minute read

I’m writing this while stuck in traffic.

Don’t worry, I’m not driving. But my bus has travelled about 100 meters in 30 minutes.

I’m furious at so many things.

At all the cars that only carry a single person.

At the impatient drivers that block intersections.

At the bus driver for not cutting the line like all the other buses did.

At myself for not walking or finding another way home after seeing the traffic.

But we can go the easy route, get mad, and feel sorry for ourselves. Or, we can get over it and use that time in a productive way.

At the end of the trip home, I estimated that it only took 15 minutes longer. That’s it.

So in that time, I came up with a few questions that could be useful for myself the next time I’m in a similar situation:

  1. Does being angry help me in any way?
  2. Can I turn my anger around into something good?
  3. Will I even remember this tomorrow? Or in an hour?
  4. Am I really angry at what I think I’m angry at, or is there something deeper?

I won’t always be easy to answer those questions and get over it. But this time I did, and this is what came out of it.

Like any emotion, anger can be directed to things good or bad. We always have a choice.