Proximity is a Pesky Thing

While driving in my car awhile back I started thinking about how grateful I am of KoKo, which is my cute Prius' name. It's honestly hilarious to know that anyone in my life knows exactly who KoKo is. My clients know that when I say, "Oh I need to wash Koko today." I'm not talking about a pet. Everyone just knows, accepts and loves my little Koko (short for Kokoro which is Japanese for mind, heart, spirit. I mean, she's a Toyota so she must have a Japanese name lol) Anyway, back on topic, now that you know a little backstory of my life...While I was driving I was feeling grateful and smiling about my car and within the same minute I started hearing squealing as I started to brake. I thought to myself, "Surely that's not my Koko. I hope nothing is wrong with her," and for the entirety of the red light I was worried about my car and the potential financial burden it would cost to fix her brakes if needed. My anxiety started to spiral as the light switches to green. I drive carefully and brake even more carefully at the next stop light, but I noticed I didn't hear anything this time. I noticed a large bus approaching in my review mirror and I hear the loud squeaks and screeches once again in a moment I realize and take pause. Within 5 minutes I went from a high vibrational state of gratitude to worry and dread all because of who I was driving next to. I thought, "Wow how perfect of an analogy this is for people."

You can be going through your life happy and then depending on whose around you, you can start to take on their emotions or worse- you could think you're the problem when it's someone else's poor brakes causing the fuss. You're just unfortunately close enough to be cast the blame or even absorb someone else's burden. Proximity is a pesky thing.

So! For my empathetic readers please be even more careful who you surround yourself with. Anyone can go through hard times but if someone seems to always be in a crisis... it's time for them to take their car into the shop, not you. Maybe you just need to take your "car" or your "Kokoro" in for a nice deluxe carwash and wash away other people's problems.

Now that your "Koko" is clearer now, turn up those tunes and get back on the road and gain some distance from the ones that came to mind while reading!