Everything I've shared this last 30 days has been based on my own personal and professional experiences over the last 5 years.

As you read those posts, you probably had a lot of "yeah, buts".

"Yeah, but I can't be calm in this situation", "Yeah, but I can't have that kind of conversation without getting upset", "Yeah, but I've been driving on the rumble strips and am getting pretty good at it and that's life"

I get it. I really do. You see, I had all those "yeah, buts" too.

I had spent so much of my life driving on the rumble strips. Even thinking about certain situations and people would trigger me. Some conversations seemed impossible, let alone difficult.

But one day, I caught myself driving on the highway, not on the rumble strips.

A few minutes later I was back on the rumble strips. But, for a moment, I had seen that my experience of life was more varied than I realised.

The fact that I was always having different experiences of exactly the same situation convinced me that how I was feeling had nothing to do with circumstances or other people. Rather it was just letting me know about my state of mind.

And that was enough for me to begin to experience relief. The more I noticed, the more relief I had.

One day, I felt something had shifted. I was now, mostly, driving on the highway.

To be clear. I still find myself drifting towards the rumble strips from time to time. Sometimes I cross them. But I'm getting much better at noticing where I'm at, and acting (or stopping acting) sooner.

Tony Piper • Ship 30 for 30 2023, Day 28