Seeing is believing? Or is it...believing is seeing?

I was heading home late one night from a downtown dinner date with my husband. We had taken separate cars so I was alone heading to our home in the country on a long stretch of highway. Beautiful moonlight, my favorite tunes on, singing away and cuing up the next playlist on my phone when a car pulls up beside me in the left lane and the driver starts making wild, agitated hand gestures at me. I'm thinking what is your problem buddy?? I’m not texting! I’m cuing my playlist stop judging me. Am I going too slow for you?? I immediately assume he has taken a high horse position and has an issue with me…buddy, if you don't like it, pass me and move on. Geez.

He pulls in behind me and follows for a bit then pulls out on my left and starts up with the hand gestures again. Ok, now I’m getting irritated. So, I put the pedal to the metal and leave him in my dust…holy moly people are crazy sometimes. I set my cruise again and get back to my tunes then buddy catches up to me. Now he is right up in my bumper and starts flashing his headlights at me. What the heck does this guy want?? I only touched my phone to set the playlist…let it go already. I speed up a little to get some distance cause this guy is clearly nuts – I must have really offended him and I am convinced I am dealing with a road rager and he could have a weapon! Finally, he swerves off and quickly exits the highway. I exhale…my goodness the world has some real crazies.

A little further up the road, I pass a transport truck. As soon as I am in front of it, the driver starts flashing all of his lights, headlights, clearance lights, the whole bit…I’m like that’s weird. I know truckers and he was trying to tell me something.

And so, I start looking at what could be wrong with my car instead of my driving…and with a sickening realization I figure it out….my headlights were off. I was driving with no headlights.

I start laughing really, really hard. Crazy guy wasn’t crazy at all!! He wasn’t road raging at me or judging me…he was trying to save my life.

But I felt guilty for touching my phone while driving and so I saw what I believed should happen. Someone reaming me out for it. Instead of trying to understand what he might be trying to tell me, I reacted in defense from a place of feeling guilty.

Lesson learned. Thank you not-so-crazy-guy…I appreciate you.

Perception is our reality…what we believe, we see. T xo