Trains Are Like Men

I turned the corner onto the subway platform.

A woman was just about to board when the doors slammed shut, inches from her face. 

She was royally pissed off, judging by the torrent of swear words and her theatrical gestures.

The show went on until a homeless man sitting in the corner yelled out “Lady, trains are like men. Another one will come along.”

He was right, and not just literally. The plain and simple truth was that it was not the end of the world, and the pain would pass.

Tough emotions are like missed trains. You’re left stewing  on the platform, your body aflame and your mind in chaos. You have no perspective other than your loss, the missed opportunity snatched from you, the insult of doors slamming in your face. 

And that’s OK. You will want to manage, tamp down, suppress, deny, or talk yourself out of that hot mess of feelings. But you shouldn’t. Give yourself the space to feel all the “unreasonable” feels.

Here’s why: The quicker you don’t fight yourself, the faster that you allow yourself to really feel, judgment free, the sooner you will regain your balance. Let the feelings flow out of you. Don’t be locked in a wrestling match with your perceived “higher, better” self. It’s all you, the one who knows it’s absurd, and the one who feels the absurd feelings.

Another train, another man, another “feel the feels” moment will come along, and that’s just called being human.