Week 10 – The Passenger

Something happened last night that doesn’t happen very often. I became the passenger instead of the driver.  A friend had invited be to be her +1 at the press launch of a new Cafe in the west end of Glasgow.  When she arrived, she was driving her old blue van with her business logo on the side, Thorntonhall Farmhouse Icecream, she is a supplier to the new cafe. I knew we were going across town and didn’t really fancy the journey in a rickety old bus on the motorway, so I asked if she wanted to come in my car. “No, it’s ok” she said, “I’ll drive.” So I climbed in and we set off. We were chattering away as usual, me interrupting when I saw something eyecatching. It was when we were coming home (after some splendid hospitality from Penny Black’s) that she said, “you’ve become the passenger, you’re seeing things that you don’t normally see because you usually drive.” Now, I’m not advocating that we all take our eyes off the road whilst driving, but it did occur to me that we miss so much by always being the driver.  Note to self: take the train and visit some areas I’ve not been to in a while. Get out more and appreciate what is around us.

So that leads me to what I was going to talk about which is being an Observer. I’ve noticed how much more happy I’ve been since I stopped giving opinions. I still get asked but I’m more likely to say “I don’t know ..” And it’s the same with listening to opinions, especially if they’re negative. I’ve developed a habit of somehow deflecting stuff I don’t want to hear and highlighting something positive. I think overall I’d say that progress is good.