Donna Highfill
  • Home
  • About
    • About Donna
    • What People Are Saying
    • My Other Blogs
      • Dame Nation Blog
      • Huffington Post
  • Services
    • Power Up BUSINESS
    • Coaching
  • Books and Tools
  • Blog
    • Fave Products
  • Contact Me

Valuing Our Time

Donna HighfillBlogNo commentsOctober 16, 2015

Yesterday, my husband drove with me to a speaking engagement at Mountain Lake in Pembroke Virginia. This was the location for the filming of “Dirty Dancing,” although we didn’t engage in any.

Due to our busy work schedules, our plan was to drive the four hours, have me speak for an hour, and then drive the four hours home stopping only for a nice dinner.

The drive up was nice, except for the hairpin turns on a winding mountain road that had no railing. You would think that would have slowed me down, but it didn’t.

We arrived in a timely manner, the presentation went well, and when it was over we stopped in Blacksburg at a Cracker Barrel for a wonderful, heart-threatening dinner of chicken fried chicken with chocolate cake.

After dinner we walked to the car holding hands, smiled at each other lovingly, talked about how well the presentation went, and pounded it out victoriously.

We merged back onto I-81 with plans of stopping for gas within the next hour.

Then we hit traffic on I-81 . . . 

And I don’t mean slow, crawling traffic. I mean dead stop, look-at-your-gas-tank-and-panic-traffic.

I’m talking a sea of brake lights that were blinding. One thousand trucks lined up like whales waiting to get a new i-Phone. That is when I had my slow, power-up meltdown.

“I can’t believe this,” I said after sitting there for 30 minutes. “We decided to go home so we could work tomorrow. We could have spent the night in a beautiful location. Now we’re going to be exhausted. This is freaking awful. The worst.”

My husband agreed, and my anger set off a hot-flash.

After two hours of a near-dead stop, we started moving. I smiled again.

We pulled off the interstate and filled up the car. I gathered some snacks, because my HUGE Cracker Barrel dinner wasn’t enough. We got back on the road and smiled at one another. We held hands. We savored our time together.

Twenty minutes later we hit bridge work on I-81 . . .

“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?” I yelled. I’d like to say that “freaking” was my word of choice, but my selection was actually much darker.

We sat for one and a half additional hours, as I complained about the traffic. And the other drivers. My back started to hurt. My head started to throb. Then I complained about complaining.

My mood was rolling down hill gathering emotional muck along the way. I couldn’t stop myself.

My husband tried to fake sleeping to avoid me, but I knew he was awake and poked him lest he missed some of my best moments.

What I could have done differently . . .

I could have realized that even sitting still, my husband and I were still together. We could have talked and laughed like we did when traffic was moving.

I still had a successful presentation, and we would still get home before dawn and have the next day to work.

I could have been grateful that I wasn’t sitting in traffic by myself, late at night.

We could have had a perfectly pleasant evening.

But we didn’t, because I chose to see how absolutely horrible everything was.

Next time we’re stuck in traffic, I’m going to be calm and take advantage of the time. . .

I’m going to smile at other drivers. I’m going to bring something I could work on or read.

And if that doesn’t work, then I’m buying my husband some noise-reducing earplugs.

Because he deserves them.

Tags: Change, donna highfill, inspiration, motivation, power up

Related Articles

Why Your Dance with Destiny is a Beautiful Pain in the Caboose

October 20, 2014Donna Highfill

3 Ways Names Trump Numbers

January 19, 2011Andrew

No Excuses

August 9, 2010Andrew

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Connect with Me

Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You
  • Laughter is My Hero
  • A New Year in Old Clothes
  • Why I Will Face the Fall

CHECK OUT MY BOOK

highfillcover

As a leader, do you implement change only to watch the projects, processes and initiatives stall because you can’t get the people driving them to change? In my new book Real People, Real Change: Stories of a Change Warrior in the Business World I share real stories to illustrate how leaders can move people to action.

Archives

Where Donna Will Be Speaking Next

  • April 22, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • April 23, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • May 12, 2015 - LPGA Championship, Kingsmill, Williamsburg VA
  • May 21, 2015 - Education Association of Fundraising Professionals, Eerie, PA

Certified_hi-res

mbti_certified
huffbadge

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere August 9, 2017
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You March 16, 2017
  • Laughter is My Hero January 10, 2017

Contact Me

804-370-6665
[email protected]
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • About Donna
  • Contact Me
Copyright Donna Highfill 2014