I’ve always heard that jury duty in the US is an interesting experience. Interesting in a good way.

But I never wanted to do it since I have a very delicately balanced schedule between work and kids. If I unexpectedly had to leave for a week or two from my business, it’d create a bit of chaos.

Needless to say, when I got summoned for jury duty right before my second son was born, I panicked. I postponed it because of my due date being so close. Phew!

Darn, but I got another summons later that year. I was able to postpone again because now I was breastfeeding.

Then to seal the deal, I got ANOTHER summons a few months later. I didn’t have an excuse this time to get out of it that was legit.

Every time I saw the paperwork for jury duty on my desk it brought up a little anxiety. I kept remembering my bestie being chosen as a juror and it took about two weeks out of her life.

Geez, was that going to happen to me?!

Everyone has stuff that pushes their buttons. I happen to have a hot button on the topic of time.

I’m a lot more peaceful about it than when I first had children, but I haven’t mastered the feeling of total spaciousness.

I know that I created my reality, so I decided I was not going to serve on a trial, but I didn’t know how that was going to happen. I was very caught up in the cursed “how.” I’d wake up in the middle of the night plotting out all the possibilities and getting myself worked up.

When I arrived on the scheduled day, I armed myself with books, calendars, and gadgets that connect to the internet so I could still work on things that felt inspired. I actually got some important work done while waiting.

But once in the courtroom, things got very interesting.

The case was about a DUI, and I instantly wondered how this person thought they were going to get out of a DUI when they’d had a blood test. I had already decided that this person was probably guilty and they were wasting the taxpayers’ time and money.

I was making a ton of assumptions based on nothing but my own stories. But guess what? That’s just how we humans are programmed.

So I surrendered into all of my judgments and prayed I wouldn’t be called to be questioned as a potential juror. At the last minute, they called my name (of course! I was soooo wound up at this point!).

Heart pounding, I went into the jury box and stayed very focused on my objective: being excused. I didn’t worry about what to say. When they asked questions, I answered, with no wavering in the reality I was going to create.

Within two minutes of sitting back down, I was excused. I walked all the way to my car with a smile on my face.

Here’s what I learned (again):

• If you think something is a big deal, it’ll be a big deal.
• Spending time going round and round about the how solves nothing. The how will come when you’re relaxed.
• You can still have anxiety about a desired outcome and still get what you want in the end.
• Suffering is optional.
• Judgment is inevitable, but stay open to other realities.
• It’s none of my business how the court system is set up. The US system works better than many other countries, and I appreciate that!
• If I would’ve been chosen to be on the jury for the trial, my business, my finances, and my sanity would’ve been fine. I always figure it out, and great things would’ve happened as a result.

If I ever get summoned again, I will still focus on my end desire but not resist the possibility of serving. My fear of spending unexpected time away from the business is what caused me the greatest unnecessary stress.

I’ve never had to spend unexpected time away from my business. Even when I birthed my children I was back to work in two days. That’s just the way I roll.

But as soon as I thought somebody else was in control of my destiny, I lost my power. I’m always in charge and I can relax into that truth. Ahhh…