This week has felt like MarioKart. Not the mellow kind, but the chaos kind: blue shells flying, banana peels scattered on the road, and everyone kinda bumping into each other whether they mean to or not.
Some of the bumps were frantic. They came through in a rush of urgency, dragging me into someone else’s timeline before I even knew what was happening. Suddenly I was swerving, trying not to spin out from something that was never really mine to carry in the first place.
Some of the bumps were ego. People showing up puffed and entitled, needing to prove something, needing to cast a shadow in the room. Those moments didn’t bruise so much as they pressed on my soft spots, daring me to drift off course.
Some bumps were emotional. Friends arriving with heavy stories, unexpected confessions, tears, and tornadoes of energy I hadn’t asked for but found myself holding anyway. Those moments left me a little breathless, like being spun around on the track and needing a second to remember which way to steer.
None of it stuck long enough to take me out of the race. But it was dizzying…SO many collisions in quick succession, so many ways life asked me to absorb, deflect, or steady myself back into balance. I kept reminding myself to grip the wheel, breathe, and keep moving forward.
Look, not every bump is malicious. Some are protective. Some steady us when we’re off-balance, even if no one realizes that’s what they’re doing. Some remind me that everyone is just trying to make it around the same track in one piece.
It’s tempting to keep score, to push back, to win. But the more I sit with it, the more I realize the best way through isn’t to knock anyone off balance in return. We gotta just keep going, keep steering, and keep our integrity intact.
I’m being vague here because the specifics aren’t the point. Sometimes we have those weeks where people crash into us and the collisions all blur together. Sometimes it’s not the story itself that matters but the residue it leaves: the dizziness of the spins, and the choice to regain control of the vehicle with folks running you off the road and unavoidable obstacles in your path.
At the end of the day, it’s not about dodging every banana peel or crossing the finish line first. It’s about remembering, as Ram Dass said, that we’re all just walking each other home.
