The Adventures Of A Uncommon Man

Chapter 2 We Make Our Own Sandwiches

Once upon a time on a construction site, Brad Jenkins knew a guy who always use to complain no end about literally everything. What he complained about most was his sandwiches whenever it was lunchtime.
Whenever he would sit with Brad at break, he would always pull a face everytime he took his sandwiches out.
"Urrgghh, peanut butter and jello again!" he moaned out.
Brad sighed heavily to himself. He had heard this before. It was always the same whenever he sat with this guy at lunch.
"For chrissakes, if you don't like peanut butter and jello sandwiches, why don't you ask your missus to put something different on them".
It was the most obvious solution to this guy's problems. After all, complaining about a problem never really solves it.
The guy turned to Brad with a confused expression. "I'm not married," he said to Brad. "And I make my own sandwiches".

I always hated my commute to work, but without taking my missus to Hanley bus station, I felt quite a lot of pressure lifted from my shoulder's. It didn't change the fact though that I was fuming inside. No matter how much I tried to disguise it, I could not hide the fact that I was peeved off with Natayla. It was not the fact that she was getting a lift from a friend, but just how disorganized she was this morning. She practically sat in bed the whole hour chatting to her friend on Facebook with her smartphone while I was slaving away downstairs to get her stuff ready for work and prepare her breakfast which I know too well will be left untouched and still sat there at the dining room table when I come back in from work. I just cannot believe how much she takes me for granted, that woman. Her drink problem was really getting out of hand. This missing breakfast, skipping meals business was not going to do her health any good. And if my worst suspicions are confirmed, that she could be smoking, then I will explode. I just don't know how much I can take anymore. It's bad enough commuting to a job you hate every day but having a partner who is not playing ball really takes the biscuit.
Still, I should be thankful that getting to work should be a whole lot easier. It's bad enough setting off after seven because she takes too long to get ready, and then traveling three miles out of my way and then having to travel three miles back to get onto my route. Many times I have been late and many times I have only just made it in. I can swear one day she will get me into a whole world of trouble at my work because of her laziness in the mornings. But I have to watch what I say. I can't afford to become a self fulfilling prophecy.
I take my usual route to work driving through Burslem town before joining the A500 dual carriageway. At seven in the morning, this stretch of road is only just getting busy. It's quiet early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. But in the weekdays, the rush hour traffic is only just building. It's a fast road but it does have its traffic hotspot heading towards the Weston Roundabout where most of the traffic flow joins the M6 while the rest, like myself either either head to Crewe or Nantwich and beyond. The Weston roundabout is always busy and some days the traffic can really build up coming from Stoke or Crewe. I really hate it with a passion and what's even worse is when a car or a lorry breaks down near this roundabout. The tailbacks can go for miles. It's the same on any stretch of the A500. Many people at work say I should go through Kidsgrove or make my way to Congleton. It's a quicker way but again, at the time I commute to work, it can get real busy no matter what route you are on.
Surprisingly, the Weston Roundabout is not as busy and I pass through effortlessly down another two mile stretch of the A500 towards Crewe. I decide to switch on the radio, flicking through the various channels, hearing the usual banter and talk between two DJ's and the kind of music that is being played. Music and DJ talk about random stuff is like chewing gum to my ears. I would much rather listen to a educational CD and learn something new than listen to the endless drival of DJ's and the trash that passes off as pop music today. It's just a shame I don't have any decent educational discs on me. I'd listen to any motivational speaker like Tony Robbins, Dr Wayne Dyer to Les Brown. I've always loved listening to people like that, people that tells you that you are much more than a typical ordinary, common citizen. So for the rest of the journey, I have nothing else to listen to other than my own thoughts and self talk.
I try to make my inner dialogue as positive as possible as I recall the great motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, once say that the quality of your life is determined by what you say to yourself. Your inner dialogue creates the perspective you have on life and that in turn becomes your thinking and your thinking becomes your habits and beliefs and beliefs create your reality. We make our sandwiches in life. All the misery, stress and pain we experience is of our own making and as many great teachers tell you... nothing will change unless you change how you think and to do that you have to change your inner dialogue, how you speak to yourself. My inner dialogue has always usually been positive because I have always had that GO attitude, the determination to get things done, to put my everything into whatever I do even if it looks impossible. I've had numerous successes throughout my life. I've trained in three different martial arts when I was young...Kung Fu, Kickboxing and Ju-Jitsu. I've run a variety of half marathons and even the London Marathon. Hell, I got the medals to prove it. I studied five years at college and attained two Diplomas in computer studies and business. As for my writing, well I've been doing that for as long as I remember. I know how to write a good yarn and have the skills and knowledge to succeed in this field. I know I have. So you must be asking why I am working in a dead end job with such poor pay and am in a marriage that looks like it is falling apart at the seams. My only answer is that at some point in my life I aimed too low, settled for less and therefore attracted things that were not in synchronized harmony with my true desires. In many ways, I put myself in a negative cycle, a down spiral because deep down I must be lazy. That has to be it.
We create our own sandwiches in life and if we don't enjoy them, then it's our responsibility to make some that we will enjoy. Nobody can do that for us.