Thread by @tmprowell

🧵Twitter is getting pretty hot tonight. Lots of people stressed about #Omicron, & it's manifesting in fights with one another & a desire to kill the #MedTwitter messengers. So I want to share something I started doing years ago, in traffic. Maybe it'll help you. I don't know.

2/X: One day I was driving to work, & a woman cut me off in her car. Really cut me off. Weaving lane to lane, wildly between cars, causing me to swerve & almost causing a multi-vehicle accident. I'd just had my car totaled by someone who ran a red a few mos before, & I was livid.

3/X: I found myself asking what in the hell could possibly be such an emergency that she needed to drive like that. And then suddenly, I thought: maybe her childcare provider was late & she's at risk of being fired if she's late...or maybe her baby vomited on her as she left...

4/X: On her way to a job interview, the first one she'd had in mos. Or maybe she'd gotten the call that her parent was dying in the hospital & to come, but then had been stuck in traffic. Like ALL of these scenarios. And suddenly I found myself rooting for her to make it there.

5/X: I still wasn't happy that she was driving recklessly. She nearly caused an accident. It was not cool. But when I envisioned all these scenarios, which wasn't hard to do--it's just using our imagination after all--I felt deep empathy & connectedness to this other mom.

6/X: It became literally impossible for me to wish her unwell. And I felt at peace, my anger dried up. I now do it whenever I'm in traffic & someone is behaving badly: honking, yelling, flipping me off, cutting me off. I imagine a scenario like that, & I root for them to make it.

7/X: Are these scenarios true? Who knows? Most people don't drive like that every day. Something is probably going on in their lives. I can't know. But when I let myself do this, which now happens automatically, I don't wish them unwell. I root for them to be ok.

8/X: Maybe you're not driving much of anywhere right now. Maybe you're not commuting at all. But maybe you can do this on social media. When someone comes at you, imagine that they're having the worst day in a series of terrible days. Root for them to win. To be ok. To make it.

9/X: They may or may not appreciate it. They need not even know you're doing it. But you will find the world a kinder more peaceful place. It's a gift you give yourself. And who knows? Maybe them too. Root for them to make it.

9/X: Make no mistake. More than anything, it's a gift you give yourself. /End

#kindness