True Story:
I’m driving north on Interstate 15 today to run a few errands and while I don’t see anything too out of the ordinary, I feel a bump on the road that jolts my pancreas.
An alarm instantly pops up on my dashboard that tells me my tire is at 10 psi.
The car runs surprisingly smooth as I pull onto the offramp and into a 7-Eleven parking lot.
I optimistically drive to the air machine and get out and see I ginormous gash in the side of my tire big enough to give birth out of.
So, I back into a parking spot and put the spare on.
There’s a Discount Tire down the street so I drive there.
I walk in and the gentleman that greets is donning a homemade face mask that I swear is made out of neoprene and it’s kind of just hanging from his face.
He’s very nice and attentive so I give him the news and tell him that putting road hazards on the freeway is genius and great for business.
Fortunately, he tells me they have the tire, and mine was under warranty.
The whole thing cost me $14.70 and about an hour of my time.
Now, let me just say that I have never ever had a flat tire experience go so smooth in my entire life.
However, as I sat in the waiting room thinking about the situation I was in, I realized how much I have changed from just a couple years ago.
The reason everything was going well is because I never got upset or lost my cool.
Typically in the past, I would have been furious about getting a flat and wasting my time and money.
I also would have probably been short with the gentleman in the store and maybe not received great service because of my poor attitude.
I have so much to be grateful for:
Nobody was hurt.
I didn’t wreck my car.
I had a working spare.
I had time to get it fixed without screwing up any plans.
It cost me almost nothing.
They had the tire in stock.
It didn’t take very long.
I had a good laugh about the guy’s face mask.
The part I am most grateful for is that I was able to see how great the situation was instead of being bogged down in the negative side.
That is a MASSIVE change from where I was just two years ago.
I remember going through situations like car trouble, losing sales I had worked hard for, relationship problems, money issues, arguments, my car getting broken into, political stuff I didn’t agree with, problems with my old boss, and a crap ton of other stuff that would get me upset sometimes for weeks on end.
I would play things out in my head over and over again and just keep myself angry and maybe fearful about what was going on and possibly what was coming.
I let it steal my energy, time, and happiness.
Even worse, I let it carry over into personal relationships until it had full reign over every aspect of my life.
I would remain upset, cold, and argumentative.
The ugly truth is that the situation typically wasn’t as bad as I thought it was or was going to be in the end.
In week, month, or 6 months, it was completely irrelevant and didn’t matter at all.
In fact, I usually had forgotten all about it in a few days or weeks.
So, now when something happens that I don’t like, I ask if I can do something about it now to fix or change it.
If I can, then calmly, I take action and make the necessary adjustments.
Life usually goes back to normal.
If it is something I have no control over, I ask myself, “Is this going to matter in a month or 6 months?”
It is so easy to let things go from that perspective.
Now, I’m not always so cool headed that I’m instantly dealing with what I sometimes perceive as a problem in such a great way.
However, I am much faster at seeing when my emotions are getting the better of me so I can change them and make adjustments.
I don’t have to let the situation control how I feel about it, or about anything else.
I can feel gratitude in moments that in the past I would have lost my mind and in moments when I see others angry or fearful.
It makes me feel better, but also allows me to act in ways more beneficial to me and the people around me.
I’ve already moved on and I am enjoying the rest of my day.
I’m only talking about this now to prove a point.
Life is full of flat tires.
They will happen to you until you die and to the people you love even long after that.
The only thing you and I have control over is our actions and behavior.
Emotions can be controlled or changed.
It takes effort and possibly some work to be able to handle them better consistently, but a little hard work up front sure makes a giant difference on the other side.
And, just to take it one step further, nothing that happens to us only good or bad.
There are always benefits and drawbacks to everything we experience.
It is a fantasy to believe that something is only one or the other.
We just haven’t honestly considered the other side.
Thank you for reading.
Phillip Adams