As I mentioned last week, we dropped my daughter off to her first year of college, 7+ hours away. Mostly, it's a nice drive (as long as you miss the traffic): pretty bridges, high elevation, rolling hills, cows and corn. Closer to the school, there is road construction and many, many big trucks traveling real close. About
an hour from the school, the low pressure tire indicator came on. My husband was driving and said the car didn't feel any different, but kept an eye out for any changes. We made it to the school, wondering if the tire pressure was just low.
We found a place to eat and enjoyed some local fare. Walking back to the car, my husband noticed we had a flat tire. We could have said ugh with anger, but instead we said hmph, let's fix it. We had to take EVERYTHING out of the car to get access to the donut & tools (phew, they were there - the car is 6 years old and I never even looked at the donut). My husband showed my daughter how to lift the car with the jack, unlock the
lug nuts, take the tire off and put the donut on, tighten and lower. My daughter read the yellow sticker and let us know that we couldn't go longer than 70 miles. Luckily, the hotel was only a mile away. Also in our favor was we backed into a spot right under a street light. It may have been hot (it was over 90 degrees, but it wasn't raining or blaring sun). I sent a picture to my son to let him know what he was missing (we were laughing at this
point) and he told us not to go over 50 mph - I thought that was sweet he was looking out for us from far away.
The next day, we brought my daughter & all her stuff to the school, went to Walmart for a $15 patch (plus picked up a bunch of forgotten things) and was back at the dorm at 10:30 for a nice parting day.
We could have made this "adventure" into a big, aggravated deal. Causing my daughter anxiety and worry. But instead we just got to the business of changing the tire, laughed and joked about it, taught a new skill and squished everything back into the car. Note: the original tire does not fit into a donut holding area in case you were wondering. I told her she had a good story to tell in case they had to share
something about themselves during orientation.
Keep looking at the positive side of your situation, find those silver linings, don't sweat the small stuff (although there was tire changing sweat because it was so hot), find a story in your "adventure" and remember, you have control over your mindset and those around you. Sometimes, we just need a reminder that things may be out of your control, but you control how you deal with them. It's not worth your time, energy or mental space to get
upset of things not within your Span of Control*. Now we have a fun story to tell about the beginning of her new adventure.
*Timing can be a funny thing. I think we would have reacted the exact same way in this tire situation, but I am reading the book Span of Control by Carey D. Lohrenz, who was a keynote speaker at Stampin' Up!'s Leadership conference this weekend. She talks all about controlling & prioritizing only what you can and ignoring the rest. It's a really good mindset & practical book.
