Whether it was my first car or my latest car, purchasing and owning a new vehicle is always a thrilling experience.
Two months ago my car started making a little roaring sound which progressively got worse until it was almost deafening. I figured it was the muffler. Then about a month ago the tires felt out of alignment. “Just what I need! A big expense!” I thought. It was hitting at the worst time because I’ve been laid off of my job and don’t have funds to spare.
I took my car into the dealership to get an estimate of all the things that needed fixing. As it turns out, things were worse than I knew…
- There was a recall on the tire mechanism that would be fixed for free. The tires would be aligned for free when this was completed.
- I needed two new back tires in the rear. Without buying two new tires, my car would not pass inspection.
- The loud roar was not my muffler. The car was missing one of the engine brackets. Without fixing this problem, my car would not pass inspection.
- My car needed to have a new inspection sticker by 12/31/2013.
I left the car dealership without having anything done, but made an appointment for early one morning the following week for the tires and another one for everything else.
Even though I don’t have a job, I still get up at the same time every morning to take a shower, wash my hair, put on my make-up, cook breakfast and then begin my quest for a new job. The other day I had also made an appointment to have two new back tires put on my car from a tire shop not too far down the street called Mincz Tire Service, Inc. They are really nice, down to earth people. I love people who aren’t arrogant or condescending especially with someone who is obviously less knowledgeable in the subject of their expertise.
Anyway, while they worked on putting on my new tires, I patiently sat in their no frills waiting room snapping a few pictures, texting people and cleaning out messages on my phone.
The next task was to make my way back to the dealership to have everything else fixed a few mornings later. I left my car there and Alyssa drove me home to wait. Many hours later, the service department called to have me go pick up my car. My mom’s hubby drove me up there and I braced myself to fork out a whole bunch of money.
At the last minute I asked them to change my windshield wiper blades and I waited in a new car that was parked outside the service windows.
It was a nice car, however, I knew that a whopping big car payment was not in my immediate future. Besides, there was not much difference in the new car interior and my car except for the gorgeous leather seats. I was really excited to get my own car back with everything fixed again, so I wasn’t really having new car envy. I didn’t have to wait long for the windshield wiper blades to be installed and after forking over all the gold in Fort Knox, I was ready to drive back home.
Not only were the tires smooth as silk on the road, but the ride was completely silent. No longer was there a roar. Instead, there was total silence.
Silence.
Smooth silence.
The sun shining brightly on my head through the sunroof as I cruised SILENTLY down the highway and neighborhood back roads.
I really feel like I have a new car. It rides so smoothly and is so quiet that it feels like a totally different car from the one I was driving a week earlier. I’m just thrilled. So while I was driving to the grocery store I thought about how a new car can change your outlook. Actually, not only can a new car change your outlook on life, but so can a new job, new home, new relationship and even a new outfit!
Obviously, I need a new job to match the thrill I have with my “new” car and “new” PTSD-free life.
I also got something else new, but I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow because I want to take pictures when the sun is shining to give you the full impact of my new gift. I think you all will be shocked. Not as shocked as me, but still shocked in a thrilling kind of way.
Anyway, if you can’t go out and buy a new car, clean up the one you have and get it running smoothly. Then as you drive along, think about how wonderful it is that you have a working vehicle to carry you around everywhere you need to go. I think we can say that I am very grateful my semi-bald cord-showing tires didn’t have a blow out on the highway and my engine didn’t drop out of my car. The situation could have been so much worse than it turned out to be. I’m very happy with my “new” car and glad that I have the attitude of gratitude.
It is also nice that the police aren’t going to get me this year.
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
WOW, I’m truly impressed! Not that you got your car fixed and it now feels like a “new car” because the tires drive “smooth as silk on the road,” (although it is impressive that your tires drive “smooth as silk on the road”). What a metaphor that conjures up in my mind of a car gliding along on flowing silk wheels).
And I’m not impressed that you have gratitude, because I already know how much gratitude you have now that you have rid yourself of your PTSD. What impressed me, (actually blew my mind), is that you wrote, “Even though I don’t have a job, I still get up at the same time every morning to take a shower, wash my hair, put on my make-up, cook breakfast…” To do the same routine as you always did when you had a job shows just how disciplined you really are.
And to put on your make-up – well, that’s the part that really blew me away. I can’t remember the last time I put on my make-up in the morning. I get up. Go over to my computer. Read my e-mails, (which are usually Internet salespeople claiming to be manifestation gurus and telling me that they have the secret for me having miraculous miracles happening everyday in my life if I enroll in their online program.) Yeah, right! Been there, done that. I’m a sucker no more. The only miraculous miracle that happens is that they get rich while I get taken. (Of course, when these miraculous miracles don’t happen as promised the manifestation gurus make you feel as if it is your own fault because you are not manifesting correctly – or my favorite, they tell you, “Not in your time, in THE UNIVERSE’S TIMES.) Please, I could be dead by the time The Universe decides it’s my time to sell my screenplay. Ohhh, don’t even get me started on this subject! So, after I delete all my e-mails then I get started working on whatever it is I am writing at the moment. Which right now happens to be the rewrite of a new screenplay I have written in order to get my mind off of the screenplay I have already written which has come so close to being sold, but has not been sold yet.
But after reading your post this morning, now I’m thinking, “No wonder I have never made it as a writer. Forget all this manifestation, I’m just not disciplined enough. I have to take a page from Sherry’s book and become more disciplined. First I need to shower in the morning, wash my hair, put on my make-up and then cook my breakfast. After that I can start my writing. Your post today was a total epiphany for me. I realize I have been doing everything wrong by starting my writing the moment I woke up.
I have so much gratitude today thanks to your post. I think my life is about to change irrevocably. No longer am I going to wake up and just start writing, (after I have first read all my e-mails, of course). Now I have direction and structure in my life. I’m going to get up at the same time every morning, which I never do, because what time I get up depends upon what time I went to sleep the night before. Sometimes I don’t even go to sleep. I stay up all night writing. (I can do that because I’m single and my time is my own. No one is calling me from the other room telling me to come to bed so that we can have wild, mad, passionate sex.)
Then after I get up I’m going to take a shower, wash my hair, put on my make up, cook my breakfast and only after I have eaten my breakfast – do I have to do my breakfast dishes after I have eaten my breakfast or can they wait until after I have eaten my lunch and dinner? (You know how much I hate doing housework.) But only after I do all these things will I start my writing. (I might have lost my creativity by then, because I have always felt that my most creative time is in the morning when I first wake up – but what the heck, now I have direction and structure in my life – and I think that by not having direction and structure in my life that might have been holding me back from making it as a writer.)
So, I’m off to start my new life. No more manifesting for me. (That only proved to be a waste of time as well as money.) From today forward I’m going to wake up the same time every morning, shower, wash my hair – oops I forgot, I have no hot water this morning. Something is wrong with the hot water in our building and they’re working to get it back on. (I’m telling you, it is disgraceful the high rent I pay for my apartment only to have the hot water keep going out. Oh well, I must remember to have gratitude that I live in such a lovely apartment even though I don’t have hot water this morning.) Okay, so I’ll skip the shower and put on my make-up. I don’t need hot water to put on my make-up.
OMG! I just put on my make-up and I don’t recognize the woman staring back at me in the mirror. How can I write when I don’t recognize the woman in the mirror? Where did I go?
Sherry, do me a favor and call 9-1-1. Tell them I’m missing and you need me back immediately, because without me you have no one to leave comments on your blog. 🙂
Joan,
You are funny and that’s for sure. Can you imagine me calling California 9-1-1 and telling them to go find you, but you will look entirely different because you are finally wearing makeup? They would think I was totally bonkers. No, correction. They would KNOW I was totally bonkers.
I reread your comment a couple times to make sure I was getting the full gist of everything you were saying. Thanks for all the compliments and the laughs. There was one part that just stayed in my mind which is why it has taken me so long to comment back to you. You said, “What impressed me, (actually blew my mind), is that you wrote, ‘Even though I don’t have a job, I still get up at the same time every morning to take a shower, wash my hair, put on my make-up, cook breakfast…’ To do the same routine as you always did when you had a job shows just how disciplined you really are.”
Yes, I am disciplined. I open my eyes early every morning and the first thought that enters my head is “I’m unemployed.” Then there is an avalanche of thoughts that follow. I would say the first couple minutes of thoughts are completely negative. It takes me hours to undo the damage of those few minutes of negativity. However, I understand why I am so unhappy and the reasons make total sense. Unfortunately, my “control” of all the situations only goes so far. After that it is in the hands of other people and a Higher Power or the Universe or whatever the latest term is for God is today. As you know, a large part of the last few years I’ve felt like I was on God’s Black List so to speak. So my “faith” for things that are not in my control to turn out wonderful for me is definitely waning.
An artist stands before a blank canvas and his mind whirls with ideas. The canvas isn’t empty at all. He just hasn’t finished it yet. His mind is so into what the canvas can and will become that the current state of emptiness is almost lost to him. I used to be like that artist. My mind was filled with so many hopes and dreams with the confidence to accomplish them. I knew I wasn’t the bravest, smartest, prettiest, courageous, talented, etc. woman in the world, but I felt that somehow I would create a masterpiece of my own life.
Losing my job along with the other things I’m battling has sucked a huge portion of life out of me. I just want to have a job, support myself and Alyssa, be in a loving relationship, write my book, and be happy. That shouldn’t be so hard to do, but I am struggling with succeeding at my life right now. I feel like I have earned a break and some peaceful happiness. Where is it?
Ah, I can relate to this as a passenger in my mom’s car. After it got fixed, it WAS like a different car. I’ve nominated you for the Sunshine Award! http://dropletsonajournal.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-sunshine-award.html
Thank you Madison!!!