As I was darting to my car to head to a doctor’s appointment that I was already late for, I glanced over and noticed a car running idly at the corner of my road. Curious and not willing to ignore it just because of time constraints, I pulled out of my driveway and peeked into the window and saw a young blonde-haired woman gesturing feverishly with her hands. She looked really distraught, so I motioned for her to pull up alongside my car so I could get to the bottom of this.
You never know where a road block might lead you.
After we rolled down our windows, she explained that she’s a visiting nurse who needed to get to her next patient and couldn’t figure out how the heck to get out of my development. There’s a DETOUR on the main road that I’m off of, so it’s been confusing a lot of people–and in this case her car’s GPS. Normally I’m the most directionally challenged person I know, but this was something I could help with (particularly since I’d already screwed up the detour a few times myself!). While explaining what route to take, I was simultaneously feeling anxious about being late for my appointment, but also keenly aware that this was way more important (and perhaps our paths crossed for a reason?). For all I know, her next patient could have been extremely ill and needed her to get there a helluva lot faster than I needed to get to my appointment. Besides, how could my doctor be annoyed that I was delayed due to helping out a fellow medical professional?! That would just be wrong with a capital W! 😉 To tell you the truth, I really didn’t care at the point. The “rushy-rushy” feeling I had was practically erased when I saw the look of relief on the nurse’s face. Getting her out of a jam and listening to her thank me profusely was more than enough to crush my crankiness and anxiety.
While it’s often easier to stick to our game plan, we also have to be prepared when we encounter minor road blocks and figure out the best way to confront them. I opted to go off route a little and help out a stranger and it was totally worth it. I felt so much pride that I was able to lead someone in the right direction, and in turn I was able to lead myself in the right direction–far, far away from my evil and anxious Dr. Crankenstein! When given the choice to either stay on track or to veer off so you can help someone else back on, I hope that you’ll always choose the latter. It could prompt you to move forward in a different way than you originally imagined.
Tara Rummell Berson
The Crankiness Crusher™ 
Jun 24, 2011 @ 02:09:16
Detours create some of the most interesting journeys.
Pretty sure we met while I was on a big detour.
Jun 24, 2011 @ 03:02:27
Tara, so many people in a rush to get to places with no patience…always nice to help someone else out and I bet you smiled about that the rest of the day! It reminds me of a friends story he was in a different state lost, a man stopped to help it started pouring so the man sat in my friends car with his map giving directions , the man left his keys in the car, my friend drove an hour when he realized the huge ring of keys he drove all the way back but the guys car was gone. He took them to the police they were able to track him down and return the keys. When someone shows you a kindness you want to give it back! as always enjoyed your cranky crusher!
Jun 24, 2011 @ 10:08:56
That’s the great thing about detours…without a few of them in life who knows what might be missed…and who’s to say that regular detours may not become simply part of ones path!