One hundred conversations in 45 minutes

The most important conversation you will ever have is the one you have with yourself. Always.

If this is cartoon world and a cartoon doctor is to dissect my head, they will find hundreds of little Mary Roses running around in there like little ants talking, making funny facial impressions, crying, pouting, stomping, laughing.  You name it!  You'll see every facet of me having a conversation with ME.

Time is crucial but more so to the daily commuter.  Getting from point A to point B is all about timing.  I know that it will take thirty seconds for me to get to the bus stop from my apartment (45 sec if I'm wearing 3 inch heels).  Two minutes from the bus stop to the train station, 24 minutes from Cumberland station to the Damen Blue Line, and fifteen minutes to North and Wells.

And all this time, I have over one hundred cartoon Mary Roses running around my head talking to me.  Sounds psychotic doesn't it?  Makes you wonder if I can function at all with all these voices in my head.  But these are the same voices that motivate this girl teetering in 3 inch heels, with a cool composed smile on her face, holding a grande cup of steaming Starbucks caramel apple cider, and poised to strike another deal. 

Indeed, the most important conversation you will ever have is the one you have with yourself.  On many occassions, the girl with the cell phone barges in to amuse me but nonetheless the voices in my head dominate my commute time.  

In a span of forty-five minutes, I can choose to drown out the layers of self talk that brings anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty and stress and choose to listen to the voices that strategizes, encourages, or sing the tunes of "Everyday I'm  shuffling".  Oh yeah, I have the partier Mary Rose doing her mixes there too....constantly.

Here's the clincher.  Whichever voices I choose to listen to usually determine the outcome of my day.  So if I chose to listen to the pouty Mary Rose that is crying over an appointment that didn't happen, I'd be miserable.  But if I make optimistic Mary Rose be heard over the others, I can guarantee to be walking with joy in my feet.

Forty five minutes is all I need to sort through the rumbling voices in my head.  By the time the train door opens, the world as we see goes back to normal view, the city sounds take over.  The voices in my head diminish just a tad bit.  My day's path is determined.