The Unexpected

There are times in life when the unexpected happens. Through no fault of your own, things occur that can make you feel as if there is some unbelievable dark cloud hanging over your head. Mine seems to have followed me everywhere over the past year. Usually, it appears to us that it happens at the worse possible time.

Case in point: On monday of this week while slowing down for a stop light I was rear-ended violently forcing my car into the car in front of me. It was raining really bad outside and the roads were very slick. It never rains in Las Vegas. But it was on monday night. Cats and dogs even.  I didn’t think I was hurt at first, but a few hours later I knew something wasn’t right. My back and neck and ribs were killing me. I’ll spare you the dramatic and gory details of the next few days.

Then, my insurance agent calls to inform me that my car is a “total loss”. Now I have no car. Not only that, but I am only going to get a few thousand dollars with which to replace said totaled car. All of this “at the worse possible time” I thought. Here’s where this gets interesting. Instead of continuing down the dark path, I stop. Instantly realizing I was about to go fast forward into a “negative mind loop”. So I re-framed the question I was asking myself. In fact I completely stopped asking myself questions at all. Once I had a hold of my wits, I said to myself “Go with the flow and the path will unfold before me.”

I have strong faith that everything happens in this world for a specific reason. We might not be able to see the bigger picture right then. But there is always a reason and it’s 99.9999% of the time for the greater good of our lives. Even though we might disagree at the time. Think back through your own life. Didn’t you always get through it somehow? Didn’t things always seem to be for the better in the end?  With hind sight can’t you see how one thing lead you to another and then another? A chain reaction that would never have taken place but for that first event?

Bad days are going to happen. It’s how well we deal with them internally that makes all the difference in the world. No limbs were broken, I could still walk. There was so much to be grateful for. Because it could have been so much worse. While I was thinking about this I realized that drunk drivers usually walk away from their accidents without a scratch because they don’t tense up and resist the on coming impact, they go with the flow. Mainly because they are too drunk to know better. I know to some that may seem like a horrible thought. And I would agree. I am not condoning drinking and driving at all. However, there is a lesson here.  Having just been in my first auto accident ever, I now have a new appreciation for “going with the flow of things”.  I get it. Boy, did I get it! A car can be replaced.

It will be very interesting to see how the path unfolds before me now that I have learned (the hard way) to let go and let life flow. Maybe the accident is what it took to wake me up and give me a different perspective. Maybe the lesson to be learned is to “Expect the unexpected” because I certainly was NOT expecting THAT when I left my home on Monday night.

It’s not about the car.

It’s not even about the insurance money.

It’s about learning something far bigger then you ever expected, when you least expected it most.