Fight club

I have to admit something.

I suffer from mild to medium road rage. And I get how ironic that is for a yoga teacher to say.

So I do my best to set myself up for success if I have to drive more than 15 minutes. Snacks. A playlist. A podcast. Whatever it takes.

Recently, as I was driving there was a car in front of me with a giant NEW DRIVER sign on their back windshield. And I immediately granted them more space, more patience, more kindness, and more understanding.

Because I remember white knuckling the steering wheel practically in tears while I continued stalling out on a hill. Because my Asian father would not concede to a daughter who couldn’t drive stick.

And it got me thinking… if they didn’t have that sign posted, would I have angrily switched lanes and blasted past them?

Probably.

And that prompted further reflection.

How many of us are navigating difficult chapters of our lives and without bearing all CAPS bold lettered signs that announce what we’re dealing with?!

• Death

• Breakups / Divorce

• Illness

• In conflict

• Lost a job

• Lost themselves

The reality is, everybody is going through some iteration of a tough time. But nobody is wearing a sign that announces what they’re going through.

It reaffirms something a friend once told me, to always offer the most generous interpretation of a situation.

To zoom OUT, and perhaps offer a very generous interpretation. Because nobody is wearing a sign.

Perhaps, the surly person at the store is going through a very messy divorce. The person who complains incessantly does it because they don’t feel heard or seen in their lives. The impatient person you’re clashing with has been up for the past 48 hours because they were at the bedside of somebody dying.

Easier said than done to do this.

Practice makes practice and we just get better at offering the most generous interpretation and act with understanding, the softest side, and the most compassionate parts of ourselves.

After all, we’re all in a fight club that nobody knows about. Because the first rule of fight club is, we don’t talk about fight club.