Accidents happen to all of us. Unfortunately, none of us live a life that is perfect, pain free and all puppies and rainbows. Recently, I had an accident and I thought I knew how I’d react…but I was totally wrong.
The type of accident I had was a car accident. My accident could have been any type of accident. It could have been a problem I faced at work or home. It could have been a financial accident, like the one where you forget to pay a bill. The type of accident isn’t really what matters. It’s what happens after the accident that matters. But before we get to that part, let me give you some backstory.
Leading up to the accident, I was struggling through life. Just coasting. I felt like the world was crashing around me because all these little things happened and culminated in one big thing [the accident]. I wasn’t getting as much done at work as I wanted, I wasn’t focused at home and I was just feeling off. Ever felt that way before? Like things just aren’t the way they should be? If your answer is yes, then you know how I was feeling. I hated it because I am a creature that thrives on routine and structure. I love feeling like I know what I’m supposed to do (for the most part) every day. It calms my nerves and it gives me a sense of purpose and meaning. And the day of the accident, this feeling exploded like a cork on a champagne bottle.
The accident happened and it took me a few minutes to figure out what happened…to figure out how I ended up where I was. Once I did, I was shook. Literally to my core. I had never been in an accident like that and couldn’t control my emotions. I didn’t know whether to be angry or sad or regretful or forgiving. And the worst part was, I kept second guessing everything I had done over the past few weeks and wished I could go back and redo it all over again. A day later, I still had some of those feelings, but much of it went away. I started to see there was a silver lining to the accident.
The day after, I started to realize there was much to be happy about. I was alive, I didn’t have any broken bones and thank God no one died. My car was a material item that could be fixed or replaced. And the Universe gave me what I needed – a chance to slow the f@%& down! I started to realize that everything happens for a reason [yes, we are told that all the time, but who really believes it?!]. Despite being in a major accident, I was ok and although my feelings (and car) were not, life was going to move on with or without me. I decided I was going to move on with my life. That decision is what changed my outlook.
We all have the opportunity to make decisions like I did. We all have a chance to be present at the fork in the road and make a choice of which direction we will go. That decision is what will affect EV-ER-Y-THING moving forward. The decision I made to be ok with what happened and learn from it was a gift. These gifts come to us all the time and most of the time we don’t realize they’re given to us. Accidents do happen and they sometimes come in the form of gifts. Pay attention and watch out for those gifts…because you never know when one is going to arrive at your doorstep.