When I was 16, I was over-the-moon excited about getting my driver’s license. I wanted it SO bad. I had helped my brother study for his exam and I was pretty sure I had the study guide memorized. But I wasn’t prepared when Dad invited me out to drive.

“What? Me? On the road? But Dad, I don’t have my license yet! I don’t have my learner’s permit yet! That would be breaking the law! I don’t think I could DO that! I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“Okay kid.”

He never asked me again. He asked my sister, a year later, but not me. I was hurt, angry, and didn’t understand why SHE was getting the invite, but I wasn’t. Couldn’t he see I was ready now? Couldn’t he see that I had more experience, more skill at driving than she did?

That was one of my earliest experiences with the Passed Over Paradox. Only, I didn’t know it yet. Let me break this down so you can see what was really going on here.