Let’s begin with my car’s alternator. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say, my car decided that it was not going to start while I waited for my son in the parking lot for his job interview. Luckily he had completed his interview however, he was not too happy to be in his dress clothes sitting in a hot car waiting for roadside assistance.
“Might be the alternator,” said the AAA guy. I later confirmed this with my mechanic who advised me to bring it to the shop. Since it was a Friday afternoon and I couldn’t be without my car for the weekend, I chose not to follow his advice. (You see where this is going, don’t you?)
Fast forward a week later, rinse and repeat. Same parking lot. Same car not starting. Except this time it was 9:00 at night. Thankfully, one of my son’s new co-workers had a jumper cable and within minutes, we were up and running. Needless to say, I now have a new alternator.
Amidst this fun, the air conditioner in my room decides that it wants to stop working as well. In the middle of the night, I awake to the sound of a loud pop. The familiar whirring noise has stopped. I turn the A/C on and off, try different modes to no avail. Dead in the water. Needless to say, I now have a new air conditioner.
Just as I’m getting over the shock of spending money I don’t have to repair things that don’t need to break, my daughter and I get side-swiped by a hit and run driver. Thankfully no one was hurt, other than my car’s rear quarter panel. Needless to say, it’s likely staying that way as I’ll be paying for alternators and air conditioners for quite some time.
Given the purpose of my blog, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to look at these events to find the life lessons. Because it’s truly not our circumstances that change us, but rather our attitude towards them.
How did I react to the alternator replacement? Not horribly, but not great. You see, I have spent thousands of dollars on my car in the last year. To have to invest one more dime into a car with over 100K miles nearly put me over the edge. However, since a new car is not in my future, I had no choice. It had to be fixed.
What about the air conditioner? I fared a little better actually. Luckily the evenings that week were cool enough for me to keep the windows open, so it was barely a blip in the scheme of things. And since my son’s new job is at an appliance store, I did get a bit of a discount.
The hit and run? Somewhere in between. While I was shocked that the driver left the scene, the day actually turned out very well. Since this occurred in the town where my two good friends live, we met up for dinner and had a blast.
So what’s the lesson in my “triple A” events? What’s my big ah-ha?
Simple. Life happens. Every single day, we are hit with things that we didn’t expect or plan. Several weeks ago, I was hit with losing my job. These past few weeks, I was hit with broken alternators, air conditioners and car accidents.
None of these things were on my radar. But here’s a few other things that weren’t on my radar.
My son got a job. Collectively as a family, we have lost almost 50 pounds due to our new fitness and eating plans. My beautiful garden is ablaze with color from the new landscaping I put in last year. I have a terrific new neighbor. My daughter is ending her freshman year of high school with a bang. It’s nearly summer – my favorite season.
I can choose to focus on the recent “triple A” events or on the positive things that are occurring nearly simultaneously. This is a decision I have the power to make. I’m choosing to focus on the good things because, guess what? I want more good things to happen.
It can be tough to find the silver linings among all of the bad stuff that happens to us. Sometimes you have to look really hard. Sometimes you need someone to point it out to you. Either way, it’s always worth the time and energy because those silver linings will start to add up.
You can decide to be positive or negative. It’s a choice you can make. Lord knows, it’s not always easy to be positive in this crazy world we live in today. But, I’ve much to be grateful for and I can’t allow a few hiccups in my life to undermine the many blessings I’ve been given.