GRATITUDE IN ADVERSITY: When Your Car Breaks Down at 4 AM

Aren't we leaving? Photo by Karthik Sridasyam on Unsplash

I'm an early riser.

My preferred wake-up time is 4:00 AM, but if there are things going on in my life (like, I don't know, planning a wedding...) then I feel restless and tend to wake-up around 2:00 or 3:00 AM (I know...)

Which is why last week, I found myself at the gas station filling up my car at 4:04 AM (according to my receipt), on the way to my co-working office (which has 24/7 access).

I sat in the car after having pumped my gas, turned the key in the ignition and... nothing.

The key turned, but nothing happened.

I tried several times.

Still nothing.

Shit.

Now what?

Come on, come on! It's time to go. Photo by Morgane Perraud on Unsplash

I tried a few more times, just to make sure.

Nope; this car wasn't going anywhere.

I got out my phone and was about to call CAA (the Canadian version of AAA), but then paused to think.

It was 4:00 AM; nothing was open yet.

I was quite certain nothing was wrong with the car battery because I'd had it changed two years prior.

That meant I didn't need a simple boost, but would likely needed a tow.

Did I need to accompany the driver when he towed my car?

I couldn't remember, but I knew I didn't want to get into a tow-truck with a stranger at 4:00 AM.

What would I do about work?

Based on my workload, I preferred not to miss the day, especially since I only had a handful of workdays before taking time off for the wedding.

As luck would have it, the gas station where I broke down was half a block from my co-working office. If I could leave my car there for now, I could figure out my next best steps, and get some work done while I waited.

I went inside to talk to the attendant and he was alright with me leaving the car until my mechanic opened. Whew!

I went back to the car, grabbed my purse and laptop and headed to the office.

I immediately started thinking of all the things I had to be grateful for in that moment.

• Grateful that the gas station attendant hadn't insisted on an immediate tow.
• Grateful that, of all the places I could break-down, it was so close to the office and that I had somewhere comfortable to go while I figured out what I needed to do.
• Grateful that it was a warm fall day (the warmest that week) and that the walk to the office was comfortable.
• Grateful that I had CAA so I didn't have to deal with this on my own.
• Grateful that I could have a cup of coffee while I did my thinking (hey, it's the little things).

Stella, loving the view. Image Credit: Author

I almost called my fiancé, but then realized there was nothing he could do about any of this right now.

I didn't need him to pick me up; I was fine and I was safe, and aside from the fact that my car wouldn't start, everything was ok.

So I walked into the office, made myself a cup of coffee, set-up my laptop, and started thinking.

Which for me, means writing:

1. Call @ CAA @ 6:00 AM; hope it’s just the battery.
2. If it’s not the battery, have the car towed to my mechanic's; hopefully I don’t need to go with the car.
• If I don’t, I'll stay at the office until the car is repaired. Once it's fixed, I’ll call my fiancé to pick me up and bring me to my mechanic's, or I'll call an Uber. I'll continue working until I need to go pick-up the car.
• If I do, I'll accompany the driver to the mechanic's and call my fiancé to pick me up, or call an Uber. I'll need to text my manager and let him know, and find a way to make-up the time later.

I then went onto the CAA website to see what information they would need from me once I called them:

• Your membership number and expiry date
• Your name and address
• The exact location of the disabled vehicle
• The vehicle’s make, model, year, colour and licence number
• The nature of the trouble
• A phone number where you can be contacted

I copied and pasted the above into the word document I was brainstorming in and filled it out.

Why?

Because when you're on edge, it's hard to think sometimes, especially when you're trying to relay information to someone else.

I think we've all at one time or another forgotten our own address when our minds are clouded. (I do live somewhere, now if only I could remember where that somewhere is...)

I wanted my call to go smoothly, because I wanted this issue resolved as quickly and easily as possible, so I gave myself a script.

I decided to wait until 6:00 AM to call CAA because the mechanic opened at 7:00 AM, so if the car needed to be towed, with the wait time between when I placed the call to when CAA arrived to get the car, the tow truck would likely be dropping off my car shortly after the mechanic opened.

After I had done all of that thinking and writing, I did my "as if" gratitude list.

Write down what you want to have happen in the context of a gratitude list, as if the things you want have already happened:

4:49 AM

• I am so happy and grateful that my car issue was solved so quickly and easily.
• I am so incredibly grateful for CAA and for the really nice and helpful agent I spoke to on the phone, for the helpful driver and for the fact that my car is up and running again.
• I am so happy and grateful that this situation was so easy to deal with.
• I’m so happy and grateful to live in abundance and know that I can afford to solve any problem I have with my car.
• I’m so happy and grateful that I know how to trouble-shoot and solve problems; I’m truly grateful for my logical mind.

That was how I wanted the day to go; and that's how it went.

Mesmerized. Image Credit: Author

6:00 AM

I called CAA and spoke to a friendly and helpful agent.

7:10 AM

I got text updates for the arrival of the CAA tow truck driver, so I didn't need to wait with my car; I didn't go out until I got the "10-minutes to arrival" confirmation.

7:25 AM

The tow-truck driver was a young friendly guy. He tested the battery (it was fine), tried starting the car (still nothing), and said "I'm gonna have to tow it."

I gave him the key; he took my car and I went back to the office.

My workday continued as usual.

8:30 AM

I called the mechanic; he said he was busy and wasn't sure if he could get to my car that day.

Oh well, I had been planning to work from home the next two days, so I didn't really need my car.

10:30 AM

The mechanic called me; he said "We're going to push it into the service bay; if it's the starter, this is the cost for labour and parts, are you ok with that, and with us doing the work?"

I gave him the green light.

12:00 PM

The mechanic called me to say my car would be ready for pick-up at 1:00 PM.

I told my fiancé that I would Uber, but he had an errand to run in the area, and would drive me over.

2:00 PM

My fiancé arrived and we drove to the mechanic's.

2:20 PM

I paid the mechanic. The repair wasn't free, but compared to some of the other repairs I've had, it was relatively inexpensive.

2:25 PM

I drove my car out of the mechanic's lot.

• I am so happy and grateful that my car issue was solved so quickly and easily.

Turn up the AC Auntie J; it's hot in here. Image Credit: Author

 

In that moment as I drove home, I felt so much gratitude for everything, including the fact that my car broke down at 4:00 AM.

See, my car had started fine that morning; if I hadn't stopped for gas, I would have made it all the way to the co-working office.

Meaning it's not until I wanted to go home that I would have been facing all of these issues.

In which case, there's no way any of this would have been solved quickly and easily. Everything would have taken longer, and there's no way my car would have been fixed that day.

That's why I'm grateful.

Of course you could say "it would have been better if the car hadn't broken down at all."

Yes that's true.

But that would be denying the nature of the thing - a.k.a. - a car is a machine, and machines wear out and break down; that's just what happens.

So if it was going to happen - if my car had to break down - this was the best-case scenario.

I want it to be known that I don't always handle problems like this; there are problems I get very irritated and hot-headed about, that I'm not all "zen-logic" with.

If the situation had been high-stakes - if I had been on my way to somewhere important - I'm quite certain I would have lost my ability to think rationally.

As it was, the situation was low-stakes.

As author Michael A. Singer says "There are no enlightened beings, only more or less enlightened moments."

A life well lived (as we get older and wiser) then becomes about having more and more enlightened moments.

I'm grateful that, when my car broke down at 4:00 AM, I was able to have an enlightened moment.

And that I learned once again how very powerful gratitude can be.

An attitude of gratitude can literally change your life.

Hurry! I think I see another dog in that car. Photo by marieke koenders on Unsplash

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You might be asking yourself "How does this topic relate to recovery from binge-eating?" What I found is that - for me - finding new ways of thinking about life and its challenges helped me to stop stress-eating, and has been a very big part of my ability to stop binge-eating.

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