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To get to the grocery store, I have to make a left turn onto
a busy street, filled with a combination of motorists doing their own thing
regardless of the rules, and jaywalkers crossing willy-nilly, not caring
apparently, if they live or die.
I’m not really sure why I thought going to the store on a
Saturday afternoon was a good idea. I usually shop on weekday afternoons. I was
not prepared for the amount of people I had to sidestep or crawl over. I was
not in a bad mood when I left, but I sure was when I came back.
What should have been a 2-minute drive, turned into 5-10
minutes of stopping and gunning the engine to pass people taking an inordinate
amount of time to make their next move. Everyone was driving erratically. You could almost smell the adrenaline.
[or maybe it was something else, I don’t know]. It was tough to make rational,
well-thought out decisions, because there just wasn’t time.
It was kill or be killed, so to speak.
Amidst my angst, a surprising moment of clarity emerged.
This is exactly what it’s like when
you are thinking with your reptilian brain.
We live in the modern jungles of panic, hurry, and fret. It
is hard to stay clear-headed, to not to get caught up in the frenzy. While we
are not foraging for our next meal...actually, I guess I was in this
instance...we are foraging for comfort. Anything that gets in the way of those
basic comforts should beware.
I came back from the jungle unscathed, thankfully. But it
worried me. Many of us, myself included, are making important life decisions
under these conditions. Thank goodness I didn’t happen to be at this time,
because I was running on automatic. My options for how to deal with these
stressors were limited to fighting them or fleeing them [or just freezing].
The other motorists and shoppers were doing all of those,
actually. Some were driving their car or their cart aggressively, daring people
to get in their way. Some were paralyzed to a standstill, some were just speeding
off to get away.
Next time I find myself in a reptilian moment, or just a
traffic jam, I will not join the lizards, I need to slow down...think...and
breathe through it.
c. 2014
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