The other day I got a speeding ticket.
Put me right into a funk, I’ll tell ya. And it wasn’t even on the freeway. Between my house and Eithne’s is a big long hill. So I’m coming home from dropping something off, cruising down the hill and I see a motorcycle cop. Dammit! I know the city needs money but, Dammit!
Sure enough he pulls me over. He was very nice about it, although not flirty. I’ve been pulled over by flirty…very fun…still get a ticket but you’re not unhappy you got it! Still, Officer P. Fletcher was cordial, unsmiling but took a lot of extra time with me. Yes, it was a new car for me that’s why I didn’t have my tags. Sure I bought it used but from a dealer, don’t they know what they’re doing. Me, sincerely, “Should I be worried I don’t have the tags by now?”
I think he wasn’t sure what to make of me. Suspicious details surround me. Hot red car, cute stylish woman driving it, but she’s got three kids in the back, her license is a PO box but her insurance is a street address. I was raising red flags everywhere. And getting out of the car to see if my personality could ‘raise’ anything else to get out of the ticket has never been my style. Especially with my kids in the car!
(I could segue here into ticket stories but I’ll save it for another blog, this is about my pessimist.)
So the whole things puts a large damper on my personal enthusiasm and the two sides of that coin start arguing in my head.
Pessimist: What did I do to deserve a ticket!
Optimist: It’s just your turn, someone has to get it, don’t take it personal.
Pessimist: The universe hates me.
Optimist: Well if you thinking that you’d better get ready for more bad luck.
Pessimist: So it’s my fault for liking motorcycles & the idea of seducing a cop?
Optimist: If you can bring stuff to you by thinking, start thinking of winning the lottery!
Pessimist: Only bad stuff seems to happen that way.
Optimist: Bullshit, go to traffic school and its off your record.
Pessimist: Have to because of the accident I just had, and it all costs money!
Optimist: But think of the people you’ll get to meet.
Pessimist: Yucky reprobates…slimy idiots with beer bellies.
Optimist: Go to traffic school by the beach and go as Cat…you’ll have a blast.
Pessimist: Hmmmm, the gas might be worth that…
And boom, now I’m looking forward to it! That’s how the optimist wins. She finds something, anything, positive to dwell on instead of the negative. And if its something to look forward to in the future…jackpot. Because nothing keeps your spirits up than something hopeful to look forward to.
That, my friends, is a muscle every one of us needs to develop to survive. Its one of the reasons GNO is so important to us. Its something we can look forward to in our future. But to really stay happy you have to see the path your on as something hopeful for the future. Much harder to do…and baby steps is often the only way to do it. Because with a new muscle we have to use it a little, a lot of times. Like on a ticket.
As we drove away my youngest admitted he was hiding. He said, “I thought we were all going to jail!”