Many of you know that I split my time between two locations, so I spend about 7 hours a week in my car.

I don’t mind the driving because it’s my time to chat with family and friends, listen to a podcast or sing along with Hair Nation on Sirius radio. “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey is always a favorite sing-along.

This week I was in 8 lanes of LA traffic going about 20 MPH when BOOM! My car got smashed from behind. I didn’t see it coming, and it scared the crap out of me!

{Side note: I am pretty sure that gal behind me was texting. The Lesson for all: PUT your phones down!}

I was in lane two, so there were six lanes to the right of me, one lane to the left, and tons of traffic. I had no choice but to just stop right where I was and call 911 for help. I had no idea what my car looked like, and my brain had been severely jarred. I was pretty sure that I  was physically ok, but I was scared and frazzled.

While I was sitting there waiting for the 20 minutes that it took for the LAPD to arrive and close the freeway so we could safely exit, I was shocked (more like horrified) at what happened!

A number of men (at least 10) passed by, and many hung their bodies out their car window to call me a dumb b**ch, a moron, and to yell get the f***k off the freeway. All I could do was sit there and wonder, what the hell is wrong with people?

When we finally were able to get off the freeway, the girl who hit me NEVER apologized or even asked if I was alright. Instead she was crying and then got angry saying, “someone hit me before and I never got a penny.” and  “I’m going to a wedding, and now I have to spend an hour dealing with this.” Can you believe it?

Honestly though, this experience hurt my heart more than any other part of me! Truly, what is wrong with people?

I got home about three hours later, and I started crying and couldn’t stop! Now, I haven’t had a good cry in months, and it felt good. Why was I crying? I was so sad about how many people apparently have no compassion for others – they just don’t care. I was curious about what makes people show up this way. I mean, doesn’t it take way more energy to be mean and rude than kind and caring?

It’s when things like this happen that having a sister who is a psychiatric nurse comes in handy! She said it was normal for me to be crying like this and that I should just let it happen as it was my body’s way of releasing the “fight or flight” response since the situation had passed and it was no longer needed.

Whenever something creates a strong emotion within me, I try to look for something good in it or something I can learn from it so I can become a better person. Even in this bad situation, I found some things and I want to share with you what I took away from this situation.

Awareness #1: I am blessed and VERY grateful to be surrounded in my daily life by others who are so caring and kind. I guess if my daily life was filled with ignorant, uncaring jerks then this incident wouldn’t have shocked me so much.

Seriously, my family, my friends, the gals at my spa, my spa clients and the gals in my coaching programs are all amazing people. Really, AMAZING People.

My inner circle is full of kindness, love and support and I feel really lucky.

Appreciate the gems in your life! Pick up the phone now and let them know that their kindness is important to you.

Awareness 2: People need to stop and take responsibility for their actions. Stop blaming others. Show up and fix something that you are responsible for but have neglected to own. It’s ok to be wrong. It’s ok to apologize. It’s ok to own up to your mistakes. You will grow and evolve but only if you can own your crap… and we all have crap!

None of us are perfect and we never will be, but each day we can (and in my opinion should) work on showing up as a better person.

Awareness 3: It doesn’t matter what others are doing or have done to you, don’t let sh*tty energy be contagious.

I could have sat in my car and flipped off all these ignorant men yelling their profanities at me. I could have yelled something back at them. I seriously could have ripped into the girl who hit me, but that’s just not who I am.

Sometimes you have to be the bigger person, take the high road and bless those who are less than decent human beings. Yes, you have to bless the bullies and hope that something will happen in their lives to create a shift to kindness for them. It’s possible.

Focus on the good energy out there and don’t get sucked into the negative.

There are a lot of really great people out there and good is happening in my life right now… it’s 7am on a Sunday morning and my neighbor is here fixing my AC unit. Thank you, Al!