What Spills Out of You When You are Jostled By Life?

If I am holding a cup of ice water and I accidently bump into you – what will spill out onto you? The cold ice water will spill out onto you. What if I am holding a cup of hot coffee and I accidently bump into you, what will spill out? The hot coffee will of course spill out onto you. How about the insides of you? What happens when you are pushed around a bit or jostled by life? What spills out? Is it anger? Is it bitterness? Is it resentment? Or is it the ability to cope, face the world and move on? How you handle the stress of life and the situation has a lot to do with what is inside of you. What happens when someone cuts you off on the freeway? Do you yell in anger? Or do you just think “wow, they must be in a hurry.”

When I was just 16 years old, I held my first official job working at McDonald’s. I was working the counter one day when I served a middle-aged customer his soda, burger and fries. This particular customer was very unhappy with the amount of fries that were in his bag. He felt he was getting ripped off and that the bag was under filled. I knew the amount was exactly as it should be because there are a certain number of ounces that were standard to fill the fry bags. This man became so irate that he started to raise his voice and then he was full blown screaming at me. I was very scared and I started to cry.  That evening when I went home, I told my mom about the story. I told her that you would have thought I took his first born with how angry and upset he was with me over a bag of French fries. My mother told me that people like that have other things in their lives that make them upset and that he was taking his anger out on me inappropriately. My mother was able to provide clarity to me that when this man was jostled by life, albeit by a bag of French fries that he felt was under filled, it sets off and triggers all of his anger that is held inside of him.

What is inside of you? How easily are you triggered to anger? How easily are you upset? I hope what spills out are love, happiness, and the ability to find goodness in this world. You can change what spills out of you by changing what is inside of you.

Remember always that you are worthy, you are lovable, and you deserve goodness in your life!