Your Self-esteem May Be Showing

One lesson I am learning from the bus is we may be letting our self-esteem show. I heard a bus rider say one day, “that driver thinks he’s a hot shot.” Much of who we are shows up in our attitude toward others. In psychology it is called projection. We project onto others what is really a reflection of how we feel about ourselves.  As for the statement above, I was thinking possibly this person wants to be the hot shot and he is jealous of someone else being in charge where he isn’t. No one really knows. But many times when frustrated with our own lives, we tend to blame someone else.

We may not truly appreciate the privilege we have to even have a bus system. We may not realize how much it costs to run a public transit service. What does one bus cost to purchase?  What it costs in fuel for one bus to run all day. Then add costs to maintain routes, such as the drivers, mechanics, support people.  It takes a lot of money.  Fed money, city money, fare money just to keep a bus on the streets. The cost over fares is enormous. So, I appreciate that a bus even comes close to where I live. If more used the bus,  it could help cover some expenses. Compared to costs of driving a personal car, it’s quite a deal. With more using public transit all of us could benefit.

Back to “your self-esteem may be showing.”

For a person to have a productive self esteem it takes three things:

1.  A self-esteem boost.

2. Realization of your own gifts and abilities.

3. Someone cheering you on.

Very likely, the bus-rider culture lifestyle doesn't get much of this. No one is boosting or reaffirming their notable qualities; they don’t see or realize they have personal gifts; and few are cheering them on, if any.

What does a person do when this is not present? They complain and blame. They do this out of frustration because they feel they can’t do anything about it. They lack recognition of having any personal power or tapping into their abilities to proactively do something that positively affects their lives and others.

We can do the above three things for the bus rider, and each other in business, family and friends.  By doing this, we can positively affect all aspects of our culture, and not create a contagious infection. In every person-to-person interaction if we reaffirmed a person's value, commended their unique gifts and abilities, and cheered them on, we would see dramatic improvement on all personal relationships … and live more fulfilled and happy lives.
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The bus culture is one key to rebuilding a weakened society. Lift up the weak and it strengthens what can be strong.

“Consider how to encourage and spur each other on to doing good things.”

(Hebrews 10:24)

When you ask, you may be surprised who shows up.

Went to get another 31 day pass.  I asked Michelle if she had any ideas for the bus culture experience.  She left her front window for a minute, and the next thing I knew I was in the director’s office talking about what’s going on in the bus transit system. A little nervous at first… you know in school when you get invited into the principal’s office you think,  "must be in trouble now. Oh, my, what could I have done." Turned out to be an insightful time to where transit is going. Shelia was a very pleasant, informative person to visit.

I left this impromptu meeting with a few ideas I plan to elaborate more on in the future. Here’s a few.

1. “So I thought you thought” came to mind. Many times we humans think we think someone is thinking something and it turns out the other person was not thinking that at all. I thought one day a bus driver was frustrated at something I did. Then I thought, how could I know.  He was probably thinking about something I had no clue about. I could let “So I thought you thought” mess with my mind all day. Maybe even get myself so irritated I call transit and complain about the bus driver for something I assumed he was thinking. When in fact … it was just my imagination running away with me (wasn’t there a song like that).

In a run and gun culture we seem to react to things, and what we think the other person is thinking is more a reflection of our own mindset at that time.

All so true… in all we do.

2. “On Time.”  The bus system seems to be pretty good at being on time in their routes. With all the options they face on a route, and uncontrollable factors of people, road construction, amount of traffic….  It’s amazing how well they do. There has to be a trick to how they do it.  For those who value being on time to plan a day, this is a positive benefit of using the bus.

3. An App to track bus routes. Maybe a thing to come. Need to learn more of what this is. Will probably schedule a visit with the transit director to get the scoop on this.  Once I get it right, will pass it on.

A few ideas for future expansion.

One lesson from bus life here… we really don’t know what someone is thinking, so we need to ask and find out. Clarify what is misunderstood, and seek to understand.

“So I thought you thought”  makes me think of  the Apostle Paul… think on the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.