This morning, while crossing the 520, a Land Rover decided to see just how close they could possibly get to my bumper without hitting me while going 60mph.  This isn't unusual in Seattle, because for all of the "After you", "No, after you!" drivers we have here, there are one or two of us transplants who know how the rest of the world drives, and every now and again, our impatience rears its ugly head.  Regardless, eyeing the guy in my rearview for a good half mile as we crossed a the two-lane bridge, I made a bad judgment call:

I stomped on my brakes.

The highway patrol warns against moves like this because there's always the chance that the idiot behind you won't be able to stop or slow down before hitting you.  They especially warn against quick-stopping on a rainy day after a long dry spell, and rainy, indeed, it as this morning after a multi-month drought. 

Lucky for me, the guy also stomped on his brakes, shifted the car, and zipped into the other lane before promptly getting stuck behind a commuter van for the duration of the trip to the junction of 405.  He didn't get where he was going any faster by being a jerk, and even though I made a bad judgment call, the vengeful side of me hopes that the shot of adrenaline I gave him this morning opened his eyes a bit.

Aside...  This caused some introspection for me, because it illustrates well the tendency for people to get pushy when life is frustrating or claustrophobic.  Humans tend toward becoming more aggressive when the chips are down in such a way that actually binds their hands from accomplishing what they want most.

This was a good lesson this morning to think about for me, especially, because I have a handful of large projects weighing down in my inbox that I haven't really had a lot of time to pay true service to, and because my first instinct in dealing with them is to turn on my redheaded "charm" and push them through with the various other people that I have to work with to accomplish this.  But, as evidenced by my friend, the Land Rover, this morning...  Being pushy gets you nowhere fast.

My Mimi used to tell me, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Red", and it's something that I, myself, try to live by.  My grandmother was full of great advice as you can tell from this and previous posts, and were she with us now and I was telling her about how my stress is manifesting itself this week -- heartburn, dizziness, short temper, even a few tears -- she'd do three things:

First, she'd ask if I was pregnant.  No.

Then, she'd ask if I was REALLY pregnant.  Also no.

Finally, she'd tell me to take a breath and bring my G-D patience to work (I love my Mimi).  Well, and then she'd tell me to stop being such a jerk while driving.  Okay, so four things.

But I digress...

The lesson today, Gentle Readers, is even when the world is weighing you down, even when it seems like you're unable to get anywhere fast, for heaven's sake, don't be pushy -- you'll only succeed in frustrating yourself and nearly causing an accident when someone puts the brakes on.