What's Up with the Landscaping Truck?

It's gotten to be almost funny at this point. If it weren't so annoying, I could say it's completely funny!

Three mornings a week, I drive to a gym a few miles from my house to workout. My appointment time is 8:30am. I usually leave between 8:20 and 8:25am. I have "just enough" time to get there and be ready to workout by 8:30.

A new business opened at the end of my street last year. It is a nursery/landscaping business. Their location is at the end of my street, where it meets the main highway I drive to get to the gym.

Guess what? They roll their landscape truck and trailer out every single day... between 8:20am and 8:25am. Every... single... day!

Getting behind them is not pleasant. The vehicle is slow and emits stinky exhaust. If the truck pulls out in front of me, it creates a delay that can actually make me late to the gym.

I say, "IF" it pulls out in front of me... as though it only happens occasionally. I'd say it happens 9 days out of 10!

Each and every time it happens, I feel exasperated. I am 'astounded' that I can have 'such bad luck.' And yet... I continue to leave my house at the exact same time each morning, even though I KNOW the truck leaves in that window.

What's up with that? Why don't I 'adjust' my departure time? It's almost as though I expect the truck to be there, I expect to be irritated by it pulling out in front of me... and I create that reality for myself each time... just to prove myself right.

All I need to do is modify my behavior, just a bit, and I can free myself of the tyranny of the landscaping truck and trailer. Such an easy act.

Jack Boland, a spiritual teacher of mine, used to say, "The last thing we will let go of is our suffering." I believe that this can be totally true. Some part of me feels 'righteous' when I am victimized by the landscaping truck. Being victimized (in this case) is completely within my realm of control, and yet I let it happen again... and again... and again.

Where is the problem? Is it with the landscaping truck? I don't think so!!!!

The truck is going to do what the truck is going to do. I can either utilize that knowledge and alter my routine... or I can continue to feel put upon.

So often... the choice is ours!!