26/04/2021
Sometimes you’re left with only 3 choices:
1. Go penga
2. Have a bender
3. Surrender
?
Like the driving in this country. Ooh look, a blind corner/ blind rise/ red light – the PERFECT time to overtake.
Let’s go through how you can react, given what I see are your available reaction options.
Option 1. Go Penga.
You could can go penga and shout and swear and get road rage. And who is that helping? Well, no-one. It for SURE makes you feel better. Believe me – I drop many f-bombs on my way to town and actually, it’s quite a nice way of releasing the steam that's in my body. But, let me ask you this: who is this behaviour harming? Well, you. The crazy driver, who has no sense of self-preservation, and has no inkling of your sweaty seethesome swearing, is blissfully unaware that he just caused your life to flash before your eyes. BUT you, if you choose to go penga, are left frazzled and high on adrenaline and ready to kill. Ooft. Where are the chill pills? (Actually you can buy some from the African Apothecary, but that’s not what this post is about!)
Option 2. Have a Bender.
So, someone nearly wrote you off on your way home from work. You manage to keep your wits about you and then you get home and go straight to the fridge, get out the beer/ GnT/ Whiskey/ or all three, and have yourself a little self-soothing bender. Is that helpful? Well, yes it is - momentarily, but then the next day you have a hangover and then life sucks a little bit more than it did yesterday.
Option 3. Surrender.
In our final option, you could just surrender and accept that the driving in this country, on the whole, is pretty f*cking shocking and just accept that when you go out onto the road, you’re going to encounter some beauts.
To me, surrendering is not about being passive, but more about accepting those things that you can’t change. (Unless you’re a Very Important Person in which case, can you please re-introduce actual road laws and actual policing of said laws.) Sometimes, just letting go of that expectation that something should be what it clearly isn’t, will save you mountains of stress and you might even be able to view your driving experiences as some very interesting story material. At the very least, you can save your adrenaline for your next encounter with a stray mombe wandering across the road and save your dorp for an actual partay.
Was this advice helpful? Is there something in your life that you are trying to force that maybe it’s time to surrender? Will you accept that driving is a pile of pants and just get on with your day?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
