Of course I did. I've got my Lyft-rides history recorded on my phone and e-mail. According to my record, I've ridden on 40 different Lyft cars since June. This guy drove us about two weeks ago to Seattle downtown. It's interesting because we've never been on the same car before. Lyft does assign driver randomly. ((For those who are unfamiliar with Lyft, it's actually a similar service to Uber))
"Is it getting better?" he asked about my physical condition, I assumed, since he had to put my walker in the trunk.
"Uhm... It's alright," I half-lied.
And our conversation ended there.
Well, what could I say more? It was just going to be a short trip to the dentist. I was 'introvert-ing'. He wasn't talkative. The weather was nice and his driving music was calming. Not sure if all those facts connect, I'm just saying there was no need to carry on the small polite talk and I certainly wouldn't bombard him with my life stories. The conversation topic during most of my Lyft rides has barely moved past the country we're from or languages we speak (only a few drivers had the guts to ask, "What's wrong with your leg?"). See, I am not a fan of 'hey how are you doing? Good, you? Good, thanks!' conversation. It's nice, but it's kind of meaningless.
I wish I could do better, though. I don't want to hang on to my INFJ-ness. I don't want to "kill" potential friendships. I want to be more intentional and more genuine in my interaction with people—not just with friends, but also with strangers whose stories I am yet to listen. I have read books and stories by authors like Bob Goff and Donald Miller, blogger like Jon Acuff, social media figures like Branden Harvey and Brandon Stanton, who challenge people to live a better story by being more intentional and authentic. I guess I'm so full of myself, so I make tons of excuses.
The truth is, it's not that easy to be intentional and authentic in real life. It takes effort and time to practice those traits until they start to come out naturally.
"People love to have lived a great story,
but few people like the work it takes to make it happen.
But joy costs pain."
— Donald Miller on his book A Million Miles in A Thousand Years
I don't want to just contemplate life and write it down here. I want to be the kind of people who are too busy living good stories that I won't be bothered to post/blog/write about them.
Perhaps it's a good thing that I limit my contemplation to 255 days. At the end of the day, I'll get tired feeling and thinking about the world all the time. As much as I love blogging my feelings and thoughts about my own story and experiences, I realise there is "a Writer outside myself that has been guiding me toward a better story and toward being a better character" (Miller, 2011, p. 86). This Writer invites me not to just be a spectator of stories, but to participate and enjoy my place in a bigger story. His story.
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