Reflections on work, life, and the little things that make a difference
This column explores the quiet patterns that shape our days – unpacking ordinary moments to find shared meaning. It doesn’t claim to offer answers but hopes to offer perspective and perhaps a little calm along the way.
The Honk Behind Me
It was an ordinary weekday morning. The kids were in the back seat, half awake as we made the familiar drive to Horotiu School. At one intersection, I slowed to turn right as I normally do. There was oncoming traffic – steady enough to make the decision simple – so I waited.
And then came the honk. It was sharp and close behind me. Not loud enough to startle but enough to be felt. For a moment, I wondered if I had missed something or hesitated longer than I should have? Was there space I hadn’t seen?
But the road ahead was unchanged. The cars were still coming. The pause had been necessary. I completed the turn when it was safe, and we carried on.
However, the moment stayed with me longer than it should have. There was this quiet instinct to explain myself even though there was no one to explain it to. A subtle discomfort in knowing that, in someone else’s view, I had done something wrong.
It made me realise how often that feeling appears in small ways – a look from someone that seems to carry meaning or a moment where we’ve been misunderstood. And with it, the quiet urge to correct it.
But as the road unfolded ahead of us, I began to see that nothing needed correcting. The turn had been made safely and the day was still moving forward. Whatever had lived in that honk belonged to someone else’s moment, not mine.
A Thought to Carry With Us?
And perhaps that is something we come to learn slowly. That not every misunderstanding needs to be untangled. Not every moment needs to be carried with us beyond where it occurred. Sometimes, the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to let the moment end where it happened.
The road, after all, is still ahead and there is something quietly freeing in continuing toward it without looking back.
