I found myself in a bit of a traffic jamb last night in a stadium parking lot. I pulled up to the car ahead and noticed that they had already put their car in park. I followed their example and sat for a few minutes that turned into 45 awaiting some measure of forward progress. It wasn’t forthcoming.

Upon further review, it was clear that the lot I was in was going deeper into the morass of gridlock (by going I don’t mean actually moving) while an adjacent lot on my left had a slow crawl of cars somehow making it out of the lot to the relative freedom of the road. There was a single lane access point to that lot available to those of us who were far enough back in the line. That made the decision to take a left turn onto the side lot a no-brainer, and soon I was free. Patience, and a strategic pause at a port-a-potty, saved the evening for us by placing us just far enough in the back of the line that we bypassed the misery others were experiencing for something better.

It occurred to me that if I’d made just a little more progress on the original route I would have been stuck with that option for the duration. Sometimes being ahead of the crowd gets you more stuck than when you lag behind a bit more. Opportunities are often disguised as setbacks, and when we position ourselves well we simply have to see beyond the obstacles to find the better path.