11
Nov

How to overcome the negativity demons.

How to overcome the negativity demons.

driving test

This week I had my first American driving lesson. I was so proud of myself, I didn’t obsessively worry about it or envision how it could go wrong. I was calm, collected and ready to go!

What I was not prepared for was the driving instructor. He was harsh, unhelpful and snarky. The tiniest mistake was jumped upon and nothing was praised. Even the fact that I managed to avoid hitting anyone seemed not to faze him! I decided I wasn’t going to let it get to me. I have managed to get people to warm up to me many times, it would be fine. Or so I negativitythought. I tried to talk to him, I tried to explain that this was my first time driving in New York City, of all places, and my limited driving experience had happened two years ago in Spain. He was completely uninterested. Alright, I thought, just focus on the task at hand. I had to ask him to specifically tell me how he wanted me to do things and he only told me grudgingly. I was about half an hour into the class when I hit a wall of frustration and nervousness. I wanted to pull over, get out of the car and forget about getting my license. I wanted to go home, get a nice cup of tea and forget all about this person.

Then I took a deep breath and pushed through the wall. I stopped looking to him to give me the support I expected and realized that it was up to me. I was doing a fine job and I knew that. I got through the rest of the lesson and even managed to do a decent job of parking before driving back to the school.

So the point of my blog today, is that even though we may have found inner calm we can’t predict other people’s reactions to us. The first thing I had to do was realize that this wasn’t personal. This wasn’t because I was a bad person or even a bad driver. This was entirely to do with him! I was about to fall off a cliff and then found that I was all the support I needed because I am the cliff. I am so proud of myself for that. I may have gotten close to the edge, but I still saved myself. Two years ago, before conquering life, I would have broken down. I would have started to cry and I would have needed to stop and leave the car. So although I don’t think highly of my driving instructor, he provided me with a situation that proved I have the tools to confront negative attitudes without taking them personally.i'm a winner

Never let anyone make you feel like you can’t do something because generally it has nothing to do with you or your abilities and everything to do with their own issues. Conquering life can help you to acquire the tools not only to make yourself a happier you, but a stronger you as well!

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