One a rainy Saturday not too long ago, I was driving uphill with my two little monsters in the backseat, on the way to my parents' house (neither parent was actually home, but we figured that we'd hang out and wait for them to come home after a short trip away from our own home). The road is a main thoroughfare in the area, but not quite the super busy road, especially at 8:00 pm in the pouring rain. Most traffic in the area was to and from the residences in the immediate vicinity, however, it being dark and rainy and all, there were a few times that cars traveling at a high rate of speed for the area came speeding around us (the lack of police in the area makes it a great area for speeding far above the posted speed limit).
For those of you whom are familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area, you are probably aware that outside of the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland, a car is pretty much a necessity in order to get around. Having two little guys, two jobs that require lots of travel and picky preferences with regards to our nutritional needs further cements the necessity of a vehicle.
This was no good.
30-minutes later, my youngest child was crying his head off, my older child was asking me (for the hundredth time) why mommy's car pooped out and when we were going to get going, my patience was wearing down. I had posted a PSA on Facebook to see if anyone in the immediate area could be of assistance when all of a sudden, my mom happened to pass us by. She had forgotten something at the house or whatever reason she had for going our direction and things started turning up. She was able to take the kids back to the house (forsaking the party she was supposed to go to), call AAA to help us with a tow and wait for me and my car to arrive at the house afterwards. I patiently waited for help to arrive, and while waiting, found help from a couple guys passing by to push my car out of the way of danger and to the side of the road. Fortunately, one of the guys happened to used to work at a local transmission repair shop and referred me to them, citing that the owner would most likely be able to help me with a payment plan (considering my lack of suitable income for big emergencies such as this - most ESPECIALLY a transmission job and who knows what else could have gone wrong - this was a Godsend). Within a few days, I had the car towed to that shop and discovered that the owner was a neighbor of my parent many moons ago. Score!
The car stayed at the shop while the shop owner had to research whether or not the manufacturer would be able to help us out since the vehicle is relatively new and well-maintained. It took a couple weeks to determine that I'd need a full replacement of sorts, and that the manufacturer could not help us out because my warranty had run out 30,000 miles earlier. The part would have to be ordered and installed.
During that time and the weeks following, I lost a key figurehead from my childhood to death, had my grandpa lost and found, got pulled over for blocking an intersection and was given a citation that resulted in the borrowed vehicle I was driving being impounded and subsequently released after a large fine was paid to the City of Hayward and the towing company that towed the vehicle, grandpa was rushed to the hospital that same week for a TIA due to a blocked carotid artery, grandma rushed to the hospital for respiratory failure due to a case of pneumonia hitting her right lung, an uncle died and the very next day, my Member Services/Sales Manager at the gym lectured me about the need to pick up on my sales skills/prospecting potential training clients.
UGH.
I suppose I could use each and every difficulty and obstacle listed here as an excuse for lagging, not doing my work, failing in my day-to-day tasks and sit down and eat bonbons while moping around in my own self-pity...
...HECK NO.
I'm committed to growing and becoming a better version of myself every day, no matter what.
I'm accountable for whatever mistakes, no matter how small, unintentional or just plain stupid they might have been, that brought me to some of these circumstances.
I understand that life is gonna pull you out of your comfort zone (as discussed in my last blog) and that will not feel good, but I will grow so long as I handle the discomfort with strength, understanding and faith.
I think to myself about how I need to address each and one of these events in order to keep moving forward.
Progression is not an option, it is a need.
I may not be moving forward as quickly as I'd like, but the only thing that matters is that I am moving forward. I am learning, I'm handling each event in life and taking what it has to teach me about what I'm doing and how I need to adjust, adapt and move forward, and I'm applying the knowledge.
The first few blogs I have put out this year definitely speak to some of these principles and practices that I must use regularly just to keep moving forward (feel free to browse through blogpost 1, blogpost 2 and blogpost 3, if you haven't already). In my next post, I'll be talking a little bit more about progression and will likely link you guys up to some great reads as a supplement to the art of evolutionizing your life.
Until then, ciao, much love and blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment