Gas Station Chronicles: Paper Towels, Hustles, and the Loops We Live In
It’s 8:04 AM on a Sunday Morning, I pull up to the gas station to fill the tank and start my day.. Already, I can tell it’s going to be one of those mornings. Before I can even get inside, I’m locked out 🤔, stuck listening to two women arguing. I couldn’t even tell you what it was about—they were loud, animated, and just… arguing about absolutely nothing.
Finally, I get buzzed in, thinking I’d escaped the nonsense. But no. Now I’m inside, standing in line, and I hear this conversation between two men about jail life.
One of them says, “Yeah, I was on cigarettes heavy when I was locked down. When you couldn’t get one, what did you hustle? Mines was candy and seeds.”
The other man replies, “Yeah, I was on seeds heavy, but I don’t even eat them jawns no more.”
I couldn’t hold it in. I turned my head and started laughing to myself. It wasn’t just the conversation itself—it was what it represented. Like, here they are, talking about what they did inside jail, surviving by trading candy and seeds, and it hit me how much we live in these endless cycles. However I cracking up at the idea of them hustling jolly ranchers and plain sunflower seeds 🤣🤣🤣 wtf.
We go to jail for hustling on the outside, just to end up hustling again on the inside. Same grind, same survival mode, just in a different setting. And it’s wild, because for all the effort, what’s really changing?
Now, it’s finally my turn at the counter. I recognize the cashier—a familiar face I hadn’t seen since I moved out of the area. A little reunion, a quick smile. But when I step outside to pump my gas, the two women are still at it. This time, I catch a bit of the argument: “I can’t believe she wants to fight me over paper towels!”
Paper towels. That’s what this whole loud back-and-forth was about.
I laughed again🤣🤣🤣—this time out of disbelief. It was too ridiculous. I wanted to ask them so bad, “What are y’all even arguing about this early in the morning?” But I chose peace today. As I’m pumping my gas, I just shook my head. I couldn’t help but think: I sit in a school all day, listening to kids argue about pencils, who’s sitting in whose chair, whose turn it is, trivial things that won’t matter tomorrow… And now here I am, outside in the adult world, hearing grown folks do the exact same thing.
That morning wasn’t just about paper towels or jailhouse hustles. It was about cycles. We’re out here living in loops—arguing, hustling, struggling—and never stopping to ask, “Why?” Think about it: the men in the gas station were stuck in a cycle of survival. Whether they were hustling on the streets or in jail, it was the same energy, just redirected into a smaller box. And the women outside? Stuck in a cycle of conflict, using all their energy to fight over something as small as paper towels.
And it’s not just them. It’s all of us. So many of us are caught in patterns that keep us distracted, exhausted, and stagnant. We fight over crumbs instead of finding ways to create something bigger. We hustle endlessly, but for what?
That conversation about seeds and the argument over paper towels stayed with me. It reminded me how much energy we waste on the wrong things. Energy is everything. Where you put your energy determines the direction of your life. And if you’re stuck putting it into pointless arguments, survival-mode hustles, or chasing things that don’t matter, you’re going to stay in the same place.
This Sunday morning at 8:04 AM, I saw a reflection of the world we live in. Arguments about nothing. Hustles that lead nowhere. Energy poured into things that don’t matter. And it made me ask myself—and now I’m asking you—What are we really fighting for?
Because if the answer is paper towels, sunflower seeds, or pride, then maybe it’s time to step back and refocus. This life is too short, and this world is too broken, to waste energy on things that don’t push us forward.
Life is going to keep throwing distractions your way—arguments, hustles, conflicts—but it’s up to you to decide where your energy goes. Are you going to keep playing the same loop, or are you going to break the cycle?
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