My 2 Minutes – How Best To Utilise the Traffic Stop

Time always comes at a high premium for all of us. But these days I feel it more than ever before. I have reached that part of life when one graduates from “growing up” to “getting old,” and I have started to realise that time no longer belongs to me, while life seems to be slipping by between rushing to work and hurrying back home.

The most irritating moment of life on the road is perhaps when one is approaching a crossroad with the traffic light green, but the car in front has decided to slow down. It was one of those days when I was about to lose ‘2 minutes’ of my life for the second time in a row, just after missing the previous signal. The car ahead of me was moving at an irritable slow speed, with no intention of dashing for the green light. She finally reached the signal and stopped as the light was changing to amber. Usually, motorists in this part of the world do not prefer to stop even when the light is changing from amber to red.

Having been compelled to stop at the signal and see another 2 minutes disappear in vain, I had the obvious option—to be grumpy and take my frustration out on the car horn. But instead, a new realization dawned on me. Those 2 minutes I was about to lose were perhaps the only moments that could actually be mine.

So much so that this made me pause within myself. I realized that I may never look at these traffic stops the same way again. I might even begin to look forward to those 2 minutes.

After all, the only moments that I can truly make mine are when I am driving to or from the office. At either end of the destination, my time is either sold off or pledged to someone else. 

Perhaps it is not about losing time at a traffic stop, but about recognising the few moments that are truly ours—to pause, to introspect, and to be grateful.

P.S. If you liked this, please read about my reflection on the Japanese concept of Gaman – The Art of Holding Steady when things go wrong.